Power Rangers Dragon Legends
by Foowd
Summary: When Spyro defeated Malefor fifty years ago, he was sealed away in the Human Realms to insure his allies wouldn't find him, however now they have! And Malefor is poised to destroy both realms! Spyro has no choice but to summon four brave humans to defend both realms from Malefor and his army as the Dragon Legend Power Rangers!
1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

 **Hello good sir/madam, it sure has been a looong time since I've graced the Spyro fanfiction community with my… erm… "greatness"? Bah, you know what I mean, I've been busy with my Digimon fanfic lately, but writer's block is a cruel mistress indeed. So I'm putting that on hold for a little bit while I do something fun, something I've been wanting to do since I first started on this site.**

 **Spyro themed Power Rangers!**

 **What's that? Someone else is doing that? Oh… oh… well, screw it! It's not like I let silly little things like originality stop me from having fun! Besides, what are they gonna do? Sue me? Hahahaha… please don't sue me… I have nothing… nothing but bad jokes and empty cans of Dr. Pepper...**

 **So get your morphing coins, spirit gems, and hip hop akidos ready. And be sure to flail your limbs around as you talk for some reason, cause it's Morphin' time! Spyro style!**

 **Spyro the Dragon belongs to Acitvision games, who I am not.**

 **Power Rangers belongs to Hasbro (apparently) and Toei, I'm not them either.**

 **This is a for fun, non profit, kinda stupid fan story.**

 **IT'S MORPHIN' TIME!**

* * *

 **Prologue: The Dark Master**

* * *

Look around you, tell me what you see. You see the world you've always known right? You grind along your normal day, see your normal friends, visit your normal sites and social media. It's all you've ever known, but what if I were to tell you there were two realms? A whole other world **just** out of reach from yours? A world were dragons roamed and magic was considered mundane.

This realm is known as **The Dragon Realms** , a world that sits in balance with your own. These two realms were never meant to interact, always kept unaware of one another. However, one evil dragon would change that forever.

You see, in the Dragon Realms, dragons each utilized one of four elements. Fire, Earth, Electricity, and Ice. Some dragons could utilize more obscure, corrupt elements like Poison, Shadow, Fear, and Wind. But only one dragon could use all elements and beyond, the **purple** dragon. There had only been two known purple dragons throughout The Dragon Realm's history.

The first was Malefor, at first he was a kind, gentle soul who only wanted to do good with his unique power, but as he mastered more and more of his powers, the more corrupted he became, soon he began to frighten even the Guardian Dragons, who banished him due to his lack of restraint. However this had only angered him more, and soon sought to not only end the dragon race, but all life in The Dragon Realms.

All hope seemed lost, but soon I, Spyro, the second Purple Dragon, confronted Malefor, and with the aid of Malefor's former general Cynder, I defeated Malefor, and the Ancestors sealed him away in the center of the earth. The Ancestors felt it best to seal him in another realm entirely, the Human Realms, as to prevent any of Malefor's remaining followers from trying to free him again.

However, I feared it wasn't enough, Malefor had managed to escape confinement before, and could once again, years past, but the fear lingered on, but soon the reality that my age would prevent me from being able to defeat Malefor a second time struck me hard… I needed a plan, something to give the Realms a fighting chance.

That is when **he** found me, I knew not his name but he knew much of me, he offered a solution to my problem, a safe guard in case Malefor was freed. It was a safe guard his realm has used many times, The Power Rangers.

A special fighting force infused with great powers and in command of mighty machines known as Zords, he believed if I used dragon magic in combination with morphers, I could create a group of heroes that could fight Malefor in my place.

The technology was foreign to me, but the dragon magic I would use would not be, four spirit gems, each enchanted by the spirit of each of my mentors, locked into these morphers, the powers of the dragons would be bestowed upon the four creatures that would serve as both realms protectors.

The Dragon Legend Power Rangers…

* * *

 **A/N- Backstory = Established!**

 **Now all I have to do is make a story to go with it! Lol.**


	2. The Legendary Dragons

**Chapter 1: The Legendary Dragons**

* * *

 _ **A Valley Somewhere outside of New Harmony USA- Late Night**_

* * *

"Are you sure this is the spot Scorn?" One of my followers asked me for the hundredth time in a row. I turned to him with an angry glare, causing the lizard to stagger back in fear. "Ask me again Rikor and I'll turn you into a fern!" I threatened him. Needless to say Rikor kept his mouth shut.

We had risked a lot to get to the Human Realms where our master resided. It was clever of the Ancestors to hide him here, where his allies supposedly would never be able to reach him. Unfortunately for them, mages like myself knew of the Human Realms, and having an enchanted crystal that allowed you to track his unique power didn't hurt either.

Soon the crystal began to glow bright and shook in my hands, this was the place. Me, Rikor, and the other followers I brought along all gathered in a circle around the spot. "So what? We just start digging? We didn't even bring a shovel!" Rikor blurted out. It took all of my inner strength not to punch him.

Another of the followers agreed and elbowed him in the ribs. "No you idiot! We're going to use the ritual to summon him!" She explained. And with that, he was silent, and the ritual could begin.

Each follower put a candle around the burial spot, and lit it. I removed the ancient tome from my robe and began to recite the incantation. As the ancient words escaped my lips the earth below began to shake, it wasn't long before the crystal that held out master was revealed to us. Malefor still held his angered expression from when the ancestors trapped him.

Soon the crystal began to crack, and soon exploded from his body, I had to shield myself from the flying crystals, didn't want any of them getting in my eyes. "I… am… risen!" Malefor said, He looked weakened, as he could barely stand on his own four feet. "How… long?" He weakly asked me as two of my followers helped him stand on his feet.

"Fifty Years." I said, Malefor was shocked at the amount of time that had passed, but he quickly lost that shock, exchanging it for confusion of the place he now found himself in.

Malefor then looked around. "Wh… where am I?" He asked. Everyone just looked at each other, waiting for someone to break the news to him that he was trapped in the Human Realms.

"Y… you're in the Human Realms master." One finally sounded. His voice quivering slightly, knowing full well his words would anger the Dark Master.

A small growl sounded from the dragon as smoke began to funnel out his nostrils. "I see… so they trapped me here to keep me from finishing my work there." He said. "Fine, I'll… destroy this realm too!… but not yet… I have no power left." He said, his legs slightly buckling as if to emphasize this.

"We will make the preparations master, you will have your revenge." I said before silently motioning for my followers to begin said preparations. They both obediently did so, Malefor would need time to recover his lost power, and I knew full well the ancestors would not be idle.

Malefor seemed to have the same thoughts, "We must make haste, no doubt my enemies have a plan in place in case I managed to break free." He said. And with a nod, we all left as quickly as we could, the less attention we attracted, the better.

* * *

 _ **The Next Day…**_

 _ **New Harmony High School…**_

* * *

"Get back here Foutler!"

You know, why do I even bother coming to school? This is a question I often find myself asking as Jake Roth and his jock friends chase me around, looking to make me into paste. You may think that this was the result of something that _I've_ done, but no, I just happened to be the guy nearest to him when his girlfriend Becka Torrance dumped him via text, and well… he needed someone to take his anger out on.

But I wasn't going to sit there and be his beating dummy, no sir, so I just kept running, "Come on Roth! Can't you find more healthier ways to deal with your anger issues?" I asked as I found myself blocked off by a chain link fence… dammit! Gonna have to climb.

Roth moved in closer, "Sure… but beating your sorry ass is far more fun," He said, ripping me right off the fence like a pro wrestler in a cage match. He and his friends then surrounded me, "Luke, David, I think puny Foutler here needs to be taught the pecking order again," He said, cracking his knuckles, Luke and David were Jake's usual goons, two dumb as a brick twin linebackers, I think between the three of them, they had the IQ of a melted pudding pop.

But I wasn't going to take this lying down! I am so **done** with Jake and his cronies, "Fine! You want to get rough? I'll kick all three of your asses!" I challenged them, I had some martial arts training, and by that I mean I took Karate when I was ten, but I remembered enough to hopefully kick these three neanderthals asses.

I began to throw kicks and punches and Jake and his loser friends, but the numbers game quickly caught up with me, as the twins tossed me into the chain link fence, causing me to bounce right off and right into Jake's waiting fist.

Roth then grabbed me by the shirt, picked me off the ground, and slammed me against the fence, "You always think you can fight us off Foutler, you're either extremely ballsy, or legendarily stupid, I personally think it's the latter," He said, Roth you have no room to call **anyone** stupid when you think the best solution to someone breaking up with you for being a violent jerk is to… be a violent jerk.

I uselessly tried to worm myself free from Jake's grasp, "Dude come on! It's not my fault Becka thinks you're a psycho! And you're not exactly proving her wrong by beating me up!" I said, I knew trying to reason with the hulking mass of muscles and poor life choices that was Jake Roth was a hopeless cause. But hey, what's the harm in trying right?

A punch to the gut apparently, as Roth's fist knocked the wind right out of me, he may be dumber than a bag of hammers, but man could he hit hard. "That's real funny skateboard boy! Let's see if you're still that funny when I send you to the hospital!" He growled.

Suddenly someone grabbed Roth by the shoulder, "Come on Roth, if coach finds out your beating people up again he's gonna cut you," Said another jock, I kinda recognized him, Dean Mack, a young, athletic black kid with long dreadlocks, we've had classes together but we've never really interacted that much.

Roth slapped Dean's hand right off his shoulder, "Mind your own business Mack! I haven't forgotten that pass you dropped last week!" He snapped, wow, he was even a jerk to his own teammates. Why is he still on the team again?

Dean moved between me and Roth, "Not my fault you overthrew that pass! You're lucky Cotton Town High didn't intercept that throw! Now I won't ask again, back off or I'm telling the coach and you know he's already considering cutting your ass!" Dean threatened him.

Roth took a moment to weigh whether beating the crap out of me was worth losing his… ahem… "promising" football career. "Fine! But you better watch your back Foutler, Mack's not always gonna be there to save you!" He growled before walking off with his goons.

Dean offered me his hand, "You alright there man?" He asked me, I took the hand and he helped me to my feet. "Don't let Roth get to you, his days on the football team are numbered, everyone knows Oliver's gonna take his spot at some point," He added.

God my face felt like hamburger, "Yeah… but if his football career doesn't work out he has a bright future in boxing, man he hits hard," I whined. "Be honest, how bad is my face?" I asked him.

Dean laughed, "You look fine dude, your hairs a bit messed up though, but other than that it looks like I got to you before Roth could do any real damage," He said, funny… sure didn't **feel** like my face was fine but hey, at least I got out of it mostly unscathed.

The school bell rang, signaling that class was about to start soon. "We should get to class, maybe we can hang out later?" Said Dean, I normally try to **avoid** the football team as much as possible, but with Roth gunning for me like he was, and with Dean being as friendly as he was, I think it would be in my best interest to make an exception this one time.

I nodded, "Sure, maybe after school?" I suggested, he agreed and we both went our separate ways, I think I just made a new friend… well that's something at least.

I stopped in front of a window to check the damage for myself, Dean wasn't wrong, you couldn't really even tell I was just jumped, my neck length long brown hair was a bit messed up, but my otherwise fair complexion was spared the bruising and swelling that usually comes with these things, my red t-shirt was a bit dirty from the ground I was so violently thrown onto, but it wasn't too bad.

After I was satisfied with the state of my face I began the walk to my first period class, I debated ratting on Roth about the beating he gave me, but Roth already had plenty of reasons to kill me already, no need to give him another, besides, I couldn't afford to be late for class… again…

* * *

 _ **Meanwhile…**_

* * *

Recovering my power would take time… fifty years trapped by the ancestors coupled with how much of that energy I had wasted trying to defeat that infernal Spyro and Cynder, so I found myself in a castle trying to regain my power, this castle was apparently the home base of the group that freed me, it existed in a space known only to magic users, the space in between the Human and Dragon realms known only as "The Nexus". The order had apparently occupied the castle out of fear of being attacked by Warfang's armies.

Over time I had learned the names of the two head mages, one was Rikor, a rather slow witted lizard mage who enjoyed making clay figures of monsters in his spare time, he even had a means to bring them to life if the need arose. The other was Scorn, the leader of the order, and a powerful wolf mage warrior, he commanded the others but still obeyed my every whim, as he should...

But I knew also that infernal Spyro was still out there somewhere, I could almost **sense** his power even from here, however it was a bit weaker than I remember, perhaps fifty years of ill needed peace had caused him to become weaker? Well if that were the case, he was in for a **nasty** surprise!

I had some magic left, not much, but it would be enough to send some grublins to both realms, "Master Malefor? What are you doing?" Rikor asked me as I began to create grublins.

I let a sly smirk creep across my lips, "Fifty years I've been gone, fifty years since that fool Spyro thought he was rid of me, I think it's high time I brought him out of retirement, and show the ancestors the folly of making me aware of the Human Realms," I explained.

My plan was simple, I'd send one army of grublins to the human city I awoke in, let the ancestors know the mistake they made in revealing it's existence to me, not even Spyro could help them, although I would find amusement in him trying. Travel between the Realms was difficult even for a purple dragon without a mage's assistance. If he even managed to find a way, the human city would be but rubble by the time he arrived.

* * *

 _ **Meanwhile…**_

 _ **New Harmony High School…**_

* * *

The school day marched along like any other, I had thankfully managed to dodge Roth and his goons so far, it was science class now, and we were partnering up for a lab project, nothing too fancy, just a simple experiment with magnets. I of course partnered with one of my friends, Kevin Naton.

I've known Kevin since we were kids, he was a slender guy, with raven black styled hair, ice blue eyes, and a pension for blue and black striped t-shirts. Kevin was always the cool and collected kid, always seemed to have everything figured out, we had met at that karate class I mentioned before, and have been best buds ever since. I'd told him about what happened today with Roth while we did our magnet experiment, "Man, you're lucky Dean was there, Roth's put dudes in the hospital just for looking at him wrong," Kevin said as he moved the little metal ball with the magnet he ran under the desk.

I sighed, "Yeah, but now Roth's sworn vengeance on me, I keep expecting him to suddenly jump me out of nowhere… again," I said. This was so dumb, all because his girlfriend made the wise decision to leave him, **I** had to be the one to pay.

Kevin rolled his eyes, "I swear, that guy is gonna end up in jail at some point, can't go through life punching people and expecting it to make your problems go away," Said Kevin. Man that couldn't come soon enough, dude was a grade a psycho.

There was a moment of silence, both of us just working on the assignment we were given, until, "Say Dylan, you ever realize aside from your spat with Roth, our lives are pretty… ya know… dull?" He asked me.

I raised an eyebrow, "How so?" I asked.

Kevin sighed, "I mean, when's the last time anything interesting ever happened to either of us? I mean, when getting jumped by a jock is the peak of excitement in your life, how much have we really even lived?" He said.

I couldn't disagree, sometimes I did wish there was more to life than wasting it away at school, dodging jocks, man, my life **is** pretty boring once you think about it.

But that's just the way life is I guess, we just go through the motions until we die, man… that's actually pretty depressing once you think about it…

* * *

 _ **Elsewhere…**_

 _ **Secluded Dragon Temple, Unknown Realm**_

* * *

 _ **Crik! Crack!**_

My eyes opened for the first time in a long time, my body felt a little weak from the slumber, but I knew what my awakening meant, Malefor was back, so I had little time to lose, I tried to break myself free of the rest of the crystal that had previously held me in suspended animation, several decades trapped in crystal had done little good for my already quite aged body, but I managed to get myself free.

The temple I found myself in was exactly as I'd left it before going into hibernation, little seemed to have even aged that much, the four morphers sat upon their pedestals, waiting for their rangers to claim them. The pool of visions sat at the center of the room, over the long years since Malefor's fall, I had learned how to use it, it would be the first thing I'd need to do, I had to know if Malefor had made his first move yet or not, I doubt he'd wait long to attack the Dragon Realms again.

I concentrated, my body not quite recovered yet but I had no time to waste, but after a while I was able to make an image come forth, and my fears were realized, Malefor has launched an attack on the human realms just as I'd predicted he would, the humans were helpless and I had no means of reaching the human realms in time, and even if I did I doubt I'd be able to do much without terrifying the humans with my appearance.

It was time to create my Power Rangers, but I had to choose my rangers carefully, humans were a morally ambiguous race, I couldn't risk giving that power to someone who'd abuse it.

But which humans do I choose?

* * *

 _ **Meanwhile…**_

 _ **New Harmony High School Football Field…**_

* * *

The school day ended without incident, Dean had invited me and Kevin to hang out at practice, I was naturally reluctant since Roth was obviously going to be there, but Dean reassured me he wouldn't try anything with the coach watching him.

Kevin and I sat in the bleachers, watching the meat heads ram into things, "Man, it's like watching a human demolition derby," Kevin commented, no kidding. I looked to see Dean hanging around one of the band kids that were also practicing at the field, specifically a girl.

She was a rather small girl, she wore a yellow hoodie and blue jeans, her hair was tied in a long brown ponytail, she had a trumpet in her hands and her body language made her seem like the shy, socially awkward type. Judging by Dean's own body language, the two knew each other.

"Hey FOUTLER!"

Suddenly I was hit right in the head with a football! You wouldn't think a football would hurt that much, but he **really** whipped the thing, the force causing me to fall off the bench I was sitting on, I heard laughter and looked to see Roth and his idiot friends laughing at me. It didn't take the world's greatest detective to figure out that Roth was the one who threw it.

Kevin stood up, "Real mature Roth! Maybe if you could have put that much accuracy into throwing passes in games instead of hitting my friend we wouldn't have lost to Cotton Town by thirty points!" He snapped at Roth. Kevin had a bad habit of running his mouth, and right now it was going to cost him as Roth's laughter was quickly traded for rage as Kevin's comment caused the other players to start laughing at him.

Roth began to storm the bleachers, "You're DEAD Naton!" He growled as he drew ever closer, good job Kevin, now he was going to kill **both** of us! Why must you poke the bear?

However, "Roth! Get back here!" Called the coach.

Roth naturally objected, "But coach! He-" Roth began but the coach didn't even let him finish.

"Oh I'm sorry cupcake, did Naton hurt your feelings? I'm sorry the truth hurts Roth, now get your sorry behind back on the field before I cut you from the team!" The coach barked at Roth, Roth growled before reluctantly returning to the field. "And I want twenty push ups for hitting Foutler with that pass!" He added.

Kevin and I both laughed, after getting pounded by him earlier today, watching him get dunked on by his coach was a joy to behold.

The rest of football practice soon passed by, Roth having gotten the worst of it naturally, Dean had joined us in the bleachers, his band friend joining us, "Sorry Dylan, I didn't think Roth would actually try anything," He apologized.

I waved it off, "Not your fault Roth is a jerk, at least the coach straight up owned him afterwards," I said, all four of us had a little laugh before I decided to ask something, "So, who's she?" I asked, the girl kinda shrunk inward after I said this.

"Oh her," Said Dean, motioning towards the girl, "This is Jess, we've been friends since first grade, she's kinda shy but cool as they come," He said.

Jess offered little more than a quiet "Hi", I guess she really **was** shy.

Kevin of course, "Come on Jess, I promise we don't bite," He said jokingly, getting a weak little smile out of her.

However the festivities were suddenly interrupted by a loud scream, all four of us got up, "What was that?" I asked.

Jess of all people answered, "I have no clue..." She said, the first full sentence I had heard from the poor girl.

However it didn't take long for us to discover the answer, as one of the players began to scramble from behind the bleachers, the coach caught him before he got far though, "Jenkins! What the hell's gotten into you?" He asked.

Jenkins looked genuinely freaked out, like he'd seen a ghost or something. "I… I don't know what it was, s… some kind of rock thing… it… it tore through the fence like it was paper!" He said, the coach's face told the story as he was clearly questioning Jenkins' sanity.

However suddenly he seemed less crazy as several bizarre creatures began to funnel into the field, "Oh my god!" Said the Coach, "Everyone get to the school! RUN!" He ordered everyone, the players began to panic, scrambling to get to the school before the rock monsters could get to them.

All four of us tried to join them, but found ourselves blocked off by the hoard, "Oh god! We're surrounded!" Jess said, panic clear in her voice.

Dammit, there doesn't seem to be a way around them, the creatures just sort of crept closer and closer, "We're going to have to fight our way through," I said, it was a stupid plan, but I didn't see many other options here, the others didn't object, probably coming to the same realization as I did.

One rock monster got close and went to grab my arm, but I kicked it away knocking it over, "Back off dirtball!" I snarled at it, the hoard began to swarm us and we did our best to fight it off.

Kevin seemed to be fighting them off like I did, using what he remembered from those karate classes to fend off the rock monsters.

Dean clearly didn't have much in the ways of combat training, using a more brawling like style to fend the monsters off.

Jess had **no** combat experience at all it seemed, just sort of shoving them off and occasionally tripping them up.

The monsters just kept coming! Hell I didn't think we were even doing much damage to them! So much for our lives being boring right Kevin? Because now they were about to go out with a bang! What the hell were these things anyway?! Where did they come from? And why were they trying to **kill** everyone? The hoard soon began to overwhelm us, it was like something out of a zombie movie!

However suddenly there was a flash of white. The football field replaced with what appeared to be some kind of… temple or something… what in the hell? "Uh… what just happened?" Asked Kevin.

No one had an answer, we all just sort of stood there, confused as hell, the temple we found ourselves in looked quite old, stone floors and walls with roman like pillars, banners bearing odd symbols lined the walls, the center of the room had some kind of pool or fountain with murky water inside. "What the hell is this place?" I asked no one in particular.

"The dragon temple,"

All of us froze, it seemed we weren't alone in the room, as we soon saw a figure slowly emerge from the doorway, it didn't take long to realize this creature was a dragon, he was about the size of a monster truck on all fours, easily towering over all of us, his scales were a bright, vibrant purple, with a golden underbelly. His head spikes were yellow, with orange webbing, similar in design to his little goatee on his chin, his horns were long, lightening bolt shaped, with smaller horns just below them. His wings were huge and yellow, with orange membrane.

None of us knew what to make of this, I felt like I was losing my mind! First rock monsters and now a dragon! I think Roth might have hit me in the head with that football a lot harder than I thought. "Greetings humans," The dragon spoke in a soft, aged voice, "No doubt you all have many questions right now, where you are, who I am, why I've brought you here, and more," He added.

The dragon sat itself on the opposite side of the pool thing, I had so many questions but couldn't will myself to ask any of them, however I wouldn't have to as, well, "What the hell is going on?!" Blurted Kevin, "We were just attacked by rock monsters and now we're in some kind of… I dunno.. dungeon or temple with a talking dragon! Am I losing my mind?! I feel like I might have lost my mind!" He added.

The dragon kept his blank expression, not at all bothered by Kevin's little outburst, "Grublins, those "rock monsters" are called grublins," He clarified, so this dragon knew what they were! That's not suspicious at all! "As for what's going on, that is a much longer story," He said. "I guess I should start at the beginning, I am Spyro, come from a realm that exists in tandem with your own known as the Dragon Realms, a realm as you can surmise from it's name, is populated by dragons among other creatures," He began, "I am a special breed of dragon, a purple dragon, my kind is able to utilize all four dragon elements, while most dragons can only use one. As the purple dragon, it was my job to "bring in a new age" by protecting it from those who threatened it's safety, but as you can see, age has become an issue," He explained.

The dragon, Spyro I guess, continued, "I was not the first however, before me there was Malefor, however unlike myself, he become corrupted by his own power, he went mad, and believed that "bringing a new age" meant destroying all life so the world could begin anew," He said, "He was sealed away from centuries, but not before he had begun his campaign of destruction, many centuries later he was freed and I had to defeat him with the help of one of his former generals Cynder, however he was too powerful for us to defeat on our own, so we had to rely on the ancestors to seal him away again," He explained.

"What's this have to do with us?" I asked, it was an important question, and one who's answer I didn't think I was going to like very much.

Spyro looked away for a moment, as if feeling guilty about something, "The ancestors had chosen to strand him in **your** world, in order to prevent any of his followers from freeing him again," He answered. "But I knew he'd still find a way to free himself eventually, but as the years passed and age began to effect me, I realized I wouldn't be able to fight him again, not on my own," He went on, oh I **really** don't like where this is going. "So, with the aid of a mysterious stranger, I created… these," He said.

Suddenly four pillars rose from behind us, each had some kind of device laid upon it, the device looked like it would be worn on the wrist, it's shape was elongated, but rounded, with a symbol at the center that resembled each of the weird symbols on the banners, the emblem looked like it was made of crystal, with golden detailing, two color coordinated buttons sat under the emblem. "These are the legendary dragon morphers, each holds the spirit of one of my former mentors, their power and wisdom bestowed upon those who use them," He explained.

Spyro then got up, and walked over to the morphers, taking each of them from it's place, before approaching Dean, "Dean Mack, your strong body and iron will have earned you the power of the Green Earth Power Ranger," He said, before strapping the device to his wrist. Dean looked it over, not sure what to make of it.

He then moved onto Jess, "Jessica Fox, your faith in intelligence over brawn and electric wit have earned you the power of the Yellow Electric Power Ranger," He said to Jess as he strapped the morpher to her wrist, she too stared at the device in confusion.

He then moved onto Kevin, "Kevin Naton, your cool head and icy tongue have earned you the power of the Blue Ice Ranger," He said, strapping the device to Kevin's arm, Kevin looked it over, having this look of 'Dude are you serious?' on his face.

Then, finally, he stood before me, "Dylan Foutler, your courage and fiery spirit have earned you the power of the Red Fire Ranger," He said before strapping the morpher to my arm, I just stared at the thing, the gem insignia shimmering slightly in the light, I had no clue what to think, what was all this? Morphers? Dragons? Spirits? The hell man?!

Spyro then took a step back, "You four have been chosen to become the Dragon Legend Power Rangers, to wield the legendary dragon elements, and command the legendary dragon zords, it will be your duty to protect both worlds from Malefor and his forces, Malefor has decided to destroy both realms, I know not why he wishes your realm's destruction, but I am entrusting you four to make sure that doesn't happen," He said.

To say this was a **lot** to take in would be the understatement of the century, just this morning I was trying to dodge the local jocks, now I'm being trusted to help save the world as a Power Ranger?! How the hell was I, a wimpy little skater kid, supposed to stop an evil doom dragon that the good doom dragon wasn't even powerful enough to stop?!

I didn't seem to be the only one to find a flaw in his logic, "Uh… mister Spyro… sir..." Fumbled Jess, "I… I appreciate the kind words and everything but… we're not heroes," She said. Spyro raised an eyebrow, confused, "I… I don't think I can do this!" She added.

Kevin shook his head, "I have to agree with Jess, I mean, saving the world? Me? I don't think I'm cut out for that kind of thing," He said, this was rich coming from the guy who was telling me in science class this morning about how boring his life was.

Spyro sighed, "I can't force you to accept this responsibility, but I do ask you at least think it over, I'll leave you four to your thoughts, and if when I return you still don't wish to become Power Rangers, I will send you home without argument," He said before getting up and leaving.

He wasn't too good at hiding how disappointed he was. But what did he expect? We're just a bunch of teenagers and he was expecting us to just up and become super heroes!

We all just sort of stood in silence, until Dean decided to speak up, "I think we should do it," He said, earning shocked looks from all of us, "Come on guys! He chose **us**! Of all people! Doesn't that count for something?" He asked.

Kevin rolled his eyes, "Dean get real! We can't fight a dragon! We're just a bunch of stupid teenagers! Not badass super heroes!" He argued.

However Dean wasn't having any of it, "That's why he gave us **these** Kevin!" He said, pointing to his morpher, "You can bail if you want Kevin, but I'm doing this! You saw those grublin things attacking the school! Someone has to stop them!" he said.

Jess began to reconsider her stance, "I… I hate to say it… but Dean might be right, I mean… we can't just let this Malefor guy destroy our world… right?" She said.

Kevin threw his hands into the air, "You two are insane! Dylan come on! Back me up here!" He said, of course he just had to put me on the spot like that didn't he?

How the hell was I supposed to answer this? Kevin had a point, we were just a bunch of kids, we weren't cut out for hero work, but Dean had a point too, how horrible would we be if we just walked away from this? Especially if this Malefor guy succeeded, the more I thought about it, the more clear my answer became.

And almost as if he read my mind, Spyro rejoined us, "So… have you made your decision?" he asked. Well, here it goes.

I stepped forward, "I'm in," I said, Kevin gave me a look that told me he was **not** happy I made this decision, but what could I do? Sure I could get killed, but at least I'd be able to say I tried to do something.

Dean stepped forward, "So am I," He said, giving me an approving smile.

Jess did the same, "I… I'll do it too," She said sheepishly.

We all looked to Kevin, Kevin just sort of glared at us, before finally, "Fine! I'll do it, but if I die, I'm blaming all of you!" He reluctantly said.

Spyro seemed quite relieved, "Very good, I'm glad you four have the courage to fight for your realm and mine, however, these powers don't come without rules though, rules that must be obeyed lest you lose the protection of your powers," He said.

Oh joy, rules, "One: You must never use these powers for personal gain, two: your roles as Power Rangers must remain a secret, three: never escalate a fight unless Malefor or his forces force you to," He explained, they seemed like simple enough rules to follow, basic super hero stuff really. "Now, we've wasted enough time, as we speak the grublins attack your school and it's students, you need to stop them, good luck… Power Rangers," He said.

Before any of us even knew it we all found ourselves back at school, surrounded on all sides by a swarm of grublins, "Alright guys…" I then remembered something, "D… does anyone know how these things work?" I asked. Great, Spyro forgot to tell us how to use these morphers! New Harmony High School was going to be reduced to rubble all because the great purple dragon forgot to tell his rangers how to use their powers!

However, I then felt… something… I heard a feint voice in the back of my head, it sounded soft… aged… but wise, it was telling me how to activate my morpher! Weird and kind of unsettling… but I'll take it.

I stepped forward, the grublins all frenzied and ready to swarm us, I then began a motion with my hands that kinda resembled a martial arts kata, " _ **Legendary Dragon! Power of Red Fire!"**_ I cried before pressing the gem button on my morpher.

I then felt a surge of energy wash over me, suddenly I found myself in some kind of tight red suit and helmet, I looked over myself, the suit was some kind of semi shiny red fabric with gold bands around the edges of the white gloves, my chest had the same insignia as my morpher, connected to some golden flame like line, I felt stronger than I was before, like I could bench press a truck or something.

The others seemed to pick up on the same clue I did, as they each struck their own poses.

" _ **Legendary Dragon! Power of Blue Ice!**_ "

" _ **Legendary Dragon! Power of Yellow Electricity!**_ "

" _ **Legendary Dragon! Power of Green Earth!**_ "

Suddenly everyone was in their Power Ranger forms, allowing me to get a better look at the suits themselves, they were all of their respective colors, all bearing a golden symbol at the chest connected by a line mimicking their elements, from the top of the chest to the neck was white, along with the boots and gloves, we all had white belts with buckles that contained the gems of our morphers, the bands along the gloves and boots had odd patterns on them, not quite symbols but more squiggles. Each helmet looked like a dragon's head with the open mouth serving as the visor, silver mouth pieces sat where our mouths would be.

We all struck a pose as for whatever reason an explosion went off behind us, weird but man it must have looked **awesome**. My guess is that the powers of the morphing caused it or something to that effect. But whatever, we had bad guys to pummel!

"HIYAAAAH!"

We all lunged at our foes, ready to beat the tar out of them, once I found my first victim, I went to town on it, I noticed I was somehow much more adept at fighting now, like I had suddenly become a black belt or something, well these suits weren't just for fashion I guess, but man did I feel great! I felt like a fighting machine! I just kept tearing through the grublins one by one.

I happened a glance at the others, they were all having similar success, even Jess who was undoubtedly the weakest fighter among us was easily pounding the grublins with the grace and efficiency of a typical martial arts film star.

Dean grabbed one grublin by the leg and spun it around, knocking the thing into several of it's buddies, "This is **so** awesome!" Cheered Dean with child like glee, "And you said we weren't cut out for this Kevin!" He added, I guess he couldn't help but rub it in Kevin's face.

Speaking of Kevin, he was beating down his own grublins, "Okay fine I was wrong! You happy?" He asked before kicking another grublin away, "No need to gloat, just beat up the bad guys dude!" He added. He tried his best to hide it, but I could tell Kevin was having the time of his life, but refused to give Dean the satisfaction of seeing it.

I have to admit, I was enjoying this way more than I probably should, I mean, usually when someone has this much fun beating people up, it's grounds to have that person committed. But well, these **were** just rock monsters made of evil and hatred, and thus not really **alive** per say. So hooray! Guilt free violence!

Dean then turned to Jess, "Yo Jess! Double team?" He asked.

Jess turned to Dean, "You're on!" She said.

The two both leaped into the air, a good ten feet! Going into a flying kick, sandwiching one poor grublin's head between the two ranger's boots. "Alright! Now that's what I'm talking about!" Dean said, sharing a high five with Jess.

Kevin then paused for a moment, as if listening to something, he then struck a pose, "Hey guys, check this out!" He said before prepping for a jumping spin kick, however his feet gave off some kind of mist or something, like they were made of dry ice. When he threw the kick, a wave of frost shot out, flash freezing the grublins in place, "HA! Put those guys on ice!" He said.

Oh god Kevin, remind me to kill you for that pun, but this revealed we had some form of control over these elements and they weren't just titles to make us sound cool, "I wonder what I can do?" I pondered to myself. I began to hear that voice from earlier again…

" _Concentrate Dylan, let the fire flow through you, and it will bend to you will,"_

Okay… normally when voices in your head tell you to burn things, you end up in a mental institute, but something about this voice felt… comforting, like I could trust it, so I did as it said, and concentrated, suddenly I felt a heat in my leg, I then did what came naturally, " _ **FIRE SPIN! HIYAAAH!**_ " I did an axe kick in mid air, sending a wave of fire right at the grublins, sending them sailing through the air. "Oh man! That was awesome!" I said.

Dean turned to a pack of grublins, "Lemme try something," He said, he then paused in concentration before suddenly stomping his foot on the ground, a wave of rock and dirt came careening towards the grublins, I almost expected Bugs Bunny to pop out at the end, admonishing the fact he forget to take that next turn at Albuquerque. Instead, it just knocked over the grublins like bowling pins.

Jess concentrated herself, before doing some kind of kata, and shooting freaking Sith Lightening out of her hands, zapping a horde of grublins, even she seemed surprised by this, "Oh my god! That was insane!" She said, looking at her own hands in amazement.

* * *

 _ **Meanwhile...**_

* * *

I was watching the whole thing from a viewing globe, I couldn't believe what I was seeing, humans using bizarre powers to defeat my grublins! I recognized the emblems on their chests instantly, they were the elemental crests commonly used by dragons to signify which element they belonged to. This told me these humans had gained their powers through the dragons somehow.

I glared at he globe as these humans laid waste to my grublin armies. "So Spyro, this is your game is it? I guess age got to you more than I thought if you feel the need to rely on humans to do your fighting," I said, I needed to deal with these humans and quickly, I would not be bested by a bunch of whelplings in tights! "Scorn!" I called.

Like the obedient little dog he was, he came into the room, bowing before me, "Yes master Malefor?" He asked me.

I glared back at the viewing globe, those infernal humans were almost done destroying my grublins, "I need you to deal with these, interlopers," I said.

Scorn rose from his knee, "I'll gladly destroy them for you master, I'm one of the most powerful magic users in the realms," He boasted, he then removed his robes to reveal he was quite armored, "And I also know how to hold my own in a fight, I didn't become leader of this order by charisma alone master," He bragged.

I tried not to be annoyed by his boasting, "Just get in there and destroy those humans," I told him, he did so, summoning a portal with his crystal and running through, he'd better hope he succeeds, otherwise I might have to test myself how "skilled" of a warrior he really was…

* * *

 _ **Back on Earth…**_

* * *

Soon the grublins were no more, somehow, someway, we'd managed to defeat every single one, "Guys! We did it! We saved the school!" I said. The others joined me in celebration, god I felt good! If this is the best that Malefor guy has then this is going to be a cake walk.

We all stopped however when we heard clapping from behind us, we all turned around to see a new figure approaching, he was what could only be described as a wolf in battle armor, his fur was a dark black from head to toe, save for the red scar that ran over his left eye, "Very impressive humans, you've managed to defeat a group of underlings crafted by a weakened Malefor," He said mockingly, "But let's see how you fare against a **real** warrior!" He added, drawing his sword.

The four of us took a fighting stance, "Four of us against one of you? Doesn't exactly seem like fair odds wolf boy," I said, man this guy was nuts if he thought he could take on all four of us at once.

However he didn't seem very intimidated, "Very true, for **you** ," He said before he suddenly lunged forward so fast it was like he disappeared, slashing all four of us with his sword.

Getting slashed with a sword wasn't a pleasant experience needless to say, however the suits seemed to offer us some form of protection from the blade, sending a burst of sparks out from where the weapon made contact, it still hurt like hell though! We all sort of fell over from the slash, the wolf having himself a big old laugh at us, "Oh I seem to have forgotten to introduce myself, I am Scorn, the head of the Order of Malefor and it's most powerful warrior and mage! So don't feel **too** bad about falling to my blade, countless others already have," He boasted.

Who names their kid "Scorn"? Kinda setting him up to be a bad guy aren't you? Whatever, this dude needed to be put down! I got back to my feet, "We'll see about that Fido! Bring it!" I challenged him, although I did feel kinda weary that he had a sword and I didn't.

"You have a weapon Dylan, call for the Sword of Flame and it will come to you"

Man, that voice has all the answers doesn't it? Well, he's never let me down before… "Sword of Flame!" I called out, and suddenly a sword materialized in my hands, it was a steel sword, it's blade in the shape of a flame with the same symbol as the one on my chest at the base of it's hilt, only it was red with gold accents, it had a fire like cross guard, and some kind of weird writing on the blade that I couldn't even begin to hope to read. "Okay dog boy, let's see how you do when the playing field is level!" I said.

Scorn laughed, "You think that blade will do you any good boy? I'm among the best swordsmen in the Dragon Realms, have you even held a sword before?" He taunted me.

Okay… no I haven't, and I have to admit, that kinda made me a bit worried, but how hard could it be right? Oh god I'm going to die aren't I? Scorn didn't wait for me to get ready as he instantly launched into an attack, I did the best I could to block his slashes, but I wasn't used to swordplay so he got a few good hits in, while all my slashes were easily blocked. "HA! You wield that sword like a child! Just surrender now and save yourself the humiliation!" Said Scorn.

I was getting frustrated, this jerk was dumping on me and making me look like an idiot to boot! I kept throwing slashes at the guy, he blocked each one, "Getting frustrated are we? What's the matter human? Am I wounding your pride?" Scorn mocked me, only making me more angry!

I growled, "YOU'RE GOING DOWN MAN!" I yelled, slashing at the guy again and again, one of these swipes has got to make contact eventually!

" _Don't give into anger Dylan! He's using it to throw you off! Calm yourself!"_

Shut up weird voice in my head! This son of a bitch is going DOWN! I tried using fire on him, but he dodge rolled out of it's way, "Pathetic! You're not warrior! Just a child playing make believe!" Taunted Scorn. God I hate this guy! Give me Jake Roth and his tiny pee brain any day!

Scorn managed to catch my blade in his cross guard and disarm me in one swift motion, elbowing me in the stomach and knocking me on my rear, "Your pathetic swordplay was amusing for a while human, but now it ends along with your pathetic, worthless existence," He said, raising his sword up high for the killing blow.

However, before he could bring the blade down, some kind of ice lance thing blocked the strike, "Forget it you overgrown mutt! You forgot he's not the only Power Ranger you have to deal with!" Said Kevin, it seems he managed to summon his own weapon, some kind of lance with a tip that looked like it was made of ice. Kevin wielded his weapon with a lot more ease than I did mine.

Scorn laughed, "So that's what you call yourselves? Very well, "Power Ranger", let's see if you fare any better than your red friend," He said, the two began to fight, Kevin doing much better than I was, managing to block most of Scorn's shots, even managing to get Scorn a few times.

Kevin clocked Scorn right in the dome with the shaft of his lance, making a rather loud clanging sound as it made contact, "Not so amusing now is it wolf boy?" Kevin taunted Scorn, however Scorn managed to catch him off guard with a slash to his stomach, sparks flew and Kevin fell backwards.

Scorn was **pissed** now, "You little rat! You think you can best **me?!** Lord Malefor's greatest champion?! I will not be outdone by children in TIGHTS!" He growled, however he was quickly caught off guard himself by two slashes from behind, sending him to his knees.

Dean and Jess both stood between us and Scorn, Dean had an ax in his hands, with a blade that looked like it was made of stone, and Jess had two lightening bolt shaped daggers in her hands, "Really?" Inquired Dean, "Cause it looks to me that's **exactly** what's happening!" He mocked Scorn.

Jess readied her daggers, "Just give up Scorn! You can't beat us when we're fighting together!" She said.

However, Scorn just slowly rose to his feet, laughing slightly, "That's… what you think humans… but..." He said, before producing some kind of vial from his belt pouch, which he proceeded to slam on the ground, enveloping himself in some kind of mist.

At first I thought he was trying to make his escape, until I saw something I didn't expect to see today, and considering today I've see evil rock monsters, a talking dragon, and a warrior wolf mage, **that** is a statement one cannot make lightly.

Scorn had somehow, managed to grow him self to the size of a sky scraper! All four of us scrambled to get out of the way when he tried to squish us under his gigantic foot like a bunch of bugs, "Oh great! He's godzilla sized! Now what?!" Kevin asked.

I had no answer, how **were** we supposed to fight something **that** huge?! Scorn laughed, "What now indeed Power Rangers? You're powerless against me now! Your foolish attempts to thwart my master are in vein children, and your entire city will pay for your foolishness!" He said, before stomping his way into town to do just that.

Jess was clearly beginning to panic, as she held her head, "Oh god! He's going to destroy the city and we can't do a thing to stop him!" She cried.

There has to be something! Anything!

" _Summon your zord Dylan, it's the only thing that can combat a foe of that size!"_

Weird voice guy coming in for the save again, almost out of instinct, I held out my hand towards the sky, "We need Dragon Zord power now!" I said, an uncomfortable, awkward couple of seconds passed before I noticed four objects in the sky flying our way.

Upon further inspection, they were giant robotic dragons, each matching one of our colors, I'm guessing these were the "Zords" weird voice man and Spyro had mentioned, though I had to admit, having robotic doom dragons at our disposal was pretty awesome! I lunged towards the red zord as soon as it came within reach, landing in the cockpit in it's head.

The cockpit was a mess of buttons and controls, but somehow I knew how to work it all, "Red Ranger, ready to go!" I said, the zord's com systems came alive with a crackle,

"Blue Ranger ready, and can I just say, this is **not** how I was expecting to spend my afternoon!"

"Green Ranger ready! Man this thing is so awesome!"

"Yellow Ranger ready! Wow, this thing has a pretty good sound system..."

The four of us all flew our zords right for Scorn, who was unleashing his inner Kaiju and smashing a (hopefully empty) building, he then noticed us, a look of pure confusion on his face, "What in the world…?" He questioned before Jess suddenly zapped him with lightening, knocking him right into another building I really hoped was also empty.

"Jess!" Cried Kevin over the coms.

"What?! I panicked!" Said Jess.

Scorn was quick to his feet again, and boy did he look pissed! "I've had more than enough of you humans! I don't know where you got those metal dragons, but I'll take great pleasure in slicing them to **bits!"** Growled Scorn, before taking a swing at Jess' Zord with his sword.

Jess barely managed to pull away in time, "Oh my god!" She yelped as she barely managed to get out of the way to the blade in time.

Kevin latched his Zord onto Scorn's back, "Nice one Jess, now you've pissed him off!" Kevin said, before Scorn grabbed his Zord by the horns and threw him right at Dean, knocking them both into the side of a mountain.

I tried to keep my distance from Scorn, shooting fire from the Zord's mouth as I did so, "Come on guys! We gotta make sure we keep the collateral damage to a minimum here!" I said, god what **must** everyone in the city be thinking about the giant wolf warrior being attacked by giant robot dragons? They're either terrified, confused, or both.

Scorn then began to chant something, before we even knew it a sudden burst of what I was assuming was magic energy flew out right at us, knocking us all back. "You humans are beginning to annoy me! Why can't you just **die** and be done with it?!" He snarled.

The four of us kept trying to hammer him, but he always had a counter, sometimes even using one of our zords to beat another zord with (boy was **that** a fun experience), it was quickly becoming clear that even our zords weren't enough to stop him.

"Guys, we need something to turn the tide here," Said Dean.

"Yeah but what?" Asked Kevin, "We already have the zords! What else is there?" He asked.

What else was there? God I don't know! But we can't let this guy win! The whole city is counting on us! There has to be something! Some kind of special weapon, something!

" _When four becomes one, none will be able to destroy you, join with your friends, and you'll be able to defeat Scorn,_ "

What the hell was **that** supposed to mean?! 'Four becomes one', what does he mean by that? This voice has been quite helpful before, why was it **now** deciding to speak in riddles? Dammit! It then hit me… these are robots… four becomes one… join with my friends… can these things combine together? "Guys, let's combine our Zords!" I said.

"What?!"

"Can we do that?"

"Is that a thing?"

God I hope it was Jess, but how to… wait! Huh?! My Zord suddenly began to move on it's own, moving towards the others, it was only when I saw Dean's Zord begin to shape itself into an arm did I realize what was happening, they **were** combining! Jess' Zord began to form into another arm, and Kevin's began to form into a pair of legs, and mine? It was becoming both the torso **and** the head, I found my seat moving into the torso where the other rangers were seated as well.

"Oh my god!" Dean exclaimed, "Our giant robots just combined to make and even **bigger** robot! How are you guys not hype about this?!" He said, sounding like a kid who just got the toy he always wanted. I had to admit, this was pretty metal all things considered, pun slightly intended. We had Zords before, I guess that makes **this** the… Mega Zord!

Suddenly a giant sword came crashing down right in front of us, it was a simple blade, but had ornate markings running down it's blade, and had all four chest logos on it's purple hilt. The Mega Zord's arm reached for the sword, "Alright Scorn, it's time to end this!" I exclaimed.

 _ **GO! GO! POWER RANGERS!**_

Scorn seemed even **more** annoyed now, bearing his fangs and visibly shaking, "I've… had… enough… of you HUMANS!" He roared before rushing the Mega Zord, blade drawn.

The two swords clashed over and over, but it was clear Scorn was losing his edge, he was **so** frustrated with his inability to kill us that he was just swinging wildly now, the Mega Zord managing to push him back, "Alright rangers, let's show this overgrown flea bag what happens when he messes with OUR city!" I said before pulling a lever.

The sword began to crackle with some kind of purple energy, "Dragon Legend MEGA SWORD! GO!" We all cried in unison as the sword slashed downward, slicing Scorn right across the chest.

He stumbled backwards, clutching his chest, "You damn brats! You may have won this time Power Rangers! But mark my words, I'll be back! And you **will** fall! Of that, you can be sure!" He said before smashing another vial and disappearing in the smoke.

We all stood there in our Mega Zord, not sure what to do, "D… did we win?" Jess asked, unsure, I guess we did, I mean, he retreated right? So by default we won! At least for now.

Once that sunk in, we all celebrated, our first big win as Power Rangers! Man it felt good! I just helped save the town! Sure I wouldn't get credit for it since we had to keep our status as Power Rangers secret, but hey, we won the day, and that's good enough for me. I could get used to this!

* * *

 _ **Meanwhile…**_

* * *

Scorn failed, it seems these… "Power Rangers", were much more powerful than I thought, this was a problem… I would crush them myself if I had my power back, but alas, I was still too weak to battle yet, but hopefully I could deal with them before long, I wanted to save my strength for when I finally destroy Spyro. "Master..."

I turned to see Scorn had returned, "I'm sorry master Malefor, I've failed," He apologized, bowing on one knee, "It won't happen again I promise!" He added hastily.

I approached him, "Of that, I can be sure, these Power Rangers are a problem, I won't leave it to chance, they **must** be destroyed, if Spyro thinks he can use these humans to fight me in his stead he's in for quite a surprise," I said before turning to Rikor, "I want you to begin making me monsters, these Power Rangers will **not** stop me from fulfilling my destiny, they **will** die, and when I present their broken, mangled bodies to Spyro, he will know the folly of sending anyone to stand against me," I growled.

The fact he was having others fight in his stead told me that Spyro was weaker now, possibly due to age, it **had** been fifty years since our last battle after all, and even then he was too weak to finish me, having to rely on the ancestors to help him. So the legendary purple dragon Spyro was reduced to sending human whelpings in colorful tights to fight me, it would be humorous if it weren't so pathetic.

It mattered not however, Spyro and his little "Power Rangers" would all be crushed by my claws eventually, it was inevitable...

* * *

 **A/N- Well that was certainly a thing wasn't it guys? What wacky misadventures await our new rangers? Will they be able to save Warfang? Stay tuned!**

 **If you've followed my Spyro stories before you might recognize a few names here, this was semi intentional, as I wanted this to be a sort of tribute to my Spyro works, don't worry though if you're new to my works, this is a completely separate canon from those stories so there's no confusing backstory waiting to take you out of the story.**

 **Don't worry though, we will be seeing other Spyro characters (Legend and Classic) in some form or another throughout this story, maybe not in ways you expect, but they'll be there so there's that to look forward to.**

 **I should mention this is the first time I've ever done a Power Rangers story, so if it's a bit sloppy that's probably why, I am but a flawed human after all.**

 **What's that? Why did I randomly put "Go Go Power Rangers!" Into the prose like I would a sound effect? Well that's simple, the theme song is just THAT integral to the experience! Seriously I wrote this while listening to several different covers of Go Go Power Rangers on Spotify, especially during the zord fight!… what? I'm not weird YOU'RE WEIRD!**


	3. Flames of Anger

**Chapter 2:** **Flames of Anger**

* * *

After Scorn was sent running with his tail between his legs, everything sort of quieted down, the staff at the school sent everyone home canceling any other after school activities, everyone was a bit shaken by the Grublin attack and the hundred foot wolf warrior that stomped through the city.

We all went home after everything was settled, I usually drove to and from school so I had some time to process all of the insanity I had just been thrown into. I was a Power Ranger now, that still hadn't quite settled in with me yet, you always heard of the Power Rangers from the news and blogs, I never thought in a million years I'd be one, let alone the **red** ranger, the _leader_ of the group, it would be cool if it wasn't so terrifying.

I was **not** the first guy you looked to when you needed a leader, I was brash, short tempered, and terrible at giving orders, how the hell was I supposed to lead a team of dragon powered superheroes to fight the doom dragon to end all doom dragons? Not to mention I had to still balance it with school and other teenager things. God… I'm so screwed aren't I?

I decided to turn on the radio, if anything to escape the deafening silence, but, of course, escape from Power Ranger stuff was not to be had this day, as it was naturally all over the news.

"New Harmony was rocked today by what everyone was calling a "full blown monster attack" at the local High School, apparently "rock like monsters" attacked the school after hours, and eventually some kind of giant "wolf knight" wrecked most of downtown New Harmony" The radio DJ said. "However, the destruction could have been a whole lot worse if this wolf monster wasn't stopped by what many people believe was a Mega Zord!" He continued, seeming quite excited by the Mega Zord part, "It seems that our little town has gotten it's own group of Power Rangers to keep the bad dudes away, we'll give you more info as soon as it become available, but for now, we've got some I Prevail coming up here on New Harmony's number one rock station, WKB 22.1, the Slash!" The DJ said before the song came on.

I guess I shouldn't have been too surprised enough people saw us to get people talking about the possibility of New Harmony based Power Rangers, I mean come on, a giant dragon themed gestalt robot was kinda hard to miss. But it just felt so weird hearing someone talk about something I did on the radio like that, that something I took part in was important enough to count as news. I didn't know whether to feel proud for having so many people be thankful for me helping saving the city, or terrified that I was probably going to let them down eventually.

" _Well with an attitude like that you just might,_ "

God not the voice again, was this going to be a thing now? I noticed out of the corner of my eye that the red gem in my morpher glowed whenever the voice went off, this told me that the voice was… somehow connected to my morpher, one could question why your super hero transforming device needed to come with a free voice in your head but I'm not the great purple dragon Spyro so what do I know right? Maybe it was some kind of AI or something meant to teach me how to use it, like Siri, only in your head instead of on your phone.

" _I am no "AI" human!_ " The voice snapped, clearly offended I just compared him to Siri, " _I am a Dragon Spirit contained within the spirit gem that powers your morpher,_ " It corrected me, well excuse me for making a logical guess!

I tried my best to focus on the road, the last thing I needed was to get in an accident because my morpher decided to be chatty, " _I have a name you know!_ " The voice growled, " _I am Ignitus, in life I was the Guardian of Fire, I taught Spyro how to use the element of flame, I am not some "voice" in your head_!" He barked at me.

Okay, time out, why the hell would Spyro do this? This guy was his mentor and probably friend too, what kind of sick twisted freak traps their mentor's soul into a gem to power his super hero team? That's like if Batman trapped Alfred's soul in the Bat Computer! It's kinda messed up. " _Spyro needed a source of dragon magic to power the spirit gem in your morpher, for whatever reason he chose to use my magic to power it, when he did, a bit of my soul was transferred into the gem, I doubt even Spyro knows I'm in here,_ " He clarified.

Okay so Spyro wasn't the sadistic psycho who would intentionally trap his close friends into a plastic wrist gadget, I should probably tell Spyro about this the next time I see him, he might want to know his fire teacher is currently hanging out on my wrist. " _Actually I'm technically in your subconscious right now,_ " He corrected me… again.

Oh that's even better! He's in my **brain** , explains how he was able to read my mind so easily, but my god was that horrifying when you really stopped to think about it, wait… if he's a ghost of a dragon… does that technically make my brain haunted? Aghh… this whole Power Ranger thing was starting to drive me bonkers!

God, I bet The Avengers never have to deal with this crap…

* * *

 _ **Later That Night…**_

* * *

Of course, when I got home my mother was all over me in seconds, apparently she had seen the report about the Grublin attack at school on the news and thought I _died_ or something. I can't say I blame her really, I mean… any good parent would have a heart attack after hearing their child's school was attacked by other worldly abominations. I of course had to lie and say I managed to hide myself.

So after all that I had decided to spend the night trying to piece together the remains of my completely shattered existence, deciding to do what any teenager who just did something insane in this day and age, I googled it to see how many people were talking about it.

Of course, it was **viral** , there were several shaky videos on YouTube of the Zord fight, with titles like " _Power Rangers in New Harmony?_ ", " _Check this out! Epic giant monster brawl!_ " and my personal favorite, _"_ _I almost died filming a Zord Fight at NHHS!_ ( _Not Clickbait!_ _)_ ". He in fact did **not** almost die for the record, Scorn _almost_ hit the window this dip stick was filming from _once._ I guess that title was just too good for him to pass up.

I even found a few news articles on us, some even having gotten pictures of us fighting Grublins, none managed to get shots of us morphing (thank god!), but it did make me wonder just how in the hell I didn't notice some yahoo with a smart phone snapping pictures of me and my friends beating up rock monsters. Said articles were basically all the same thing, the writer being shocked that a small town like New Harmony had it's own ranger squad, although one of them seemed more stuck on our outfits than anything else… whatever.

But all this was just unreal, I was basically famous now, well kinda, no one knew who I even was under that helmet, but that **was** still me there, in fabulous bright red spandex, and beating up rock monsters.

There were pictures of the Mega Zord as well, I hadn't gotten a good look at the Zord during the battle, and the Zords just sort of disassembled the Mega Zord and flew off after the fight was over, it was humanoid in shape, as I theorized during the fight, my Zord made up the head and torso, with the humanoid head wearing the dragon head like a helmet, the torso had a giant windshield in the center which is what we saw through while piloting the thing, Jess and Dean's Zords made up the arms, with the heads acting as shoulder pads. Kevin's Zord making up the legs and feet. The Mega Zord even had giant dragon wings coming from it's back, I wonder if it could fly with those things? Whatever, I admit it did look pretty awesome, if not a little hokey.

I felt like I was losing my grip on reality right now, I was now an internet famous red clad super hero with his own giant robot dragon which combined with my friend's giant dragon robots to form an even **bigger** robot! It was like some lame Japanese super hero show made to sell toys to children or something.

I happened to notice the clock on my computer read ten o' clock PM, I had school in the morning so I figured it was best to get to bed, hoping that tomorrow wouldn't be nearly as insane as today was.

* * *

 _ **Meanwhile…**_

 _ **Malefor's Castle…**_

* * *

My failure still weighed heavy on me, like a force just above my head that threatened to crush me at any second. Lord Malefor was clearly angry, I just didn't know if he was angry at the Power Rangers for thwarting his attack on New Harmony, or **me** for failing to defeat them.

What made it worse was how close I was to picking off the red one before the giant metal dragons came into play, he had no sword skills, I had him disarmed and on the ground, but in my arrogance I had failed to notice the blue one before he stopped me. What I wouldn't give to have another chance at that scenario, I'd be celebrating in victory as opposed to wallowing in defeat.

Now I had to rely on Rikor's little monsters to defeat the Power Rangers, Malefor having told me I had my chance at the Power Rangers and failed. It was insulting, but I dared not defy the Dark Master, lest I find myself dead. "This monster of yours better be good Rikor, we cannot afford to underestimate these "Power Rangers" again," I warned the lizard mage.

Rikor put the finishing touches on his latest "masterpiece", some kind of large mouthed creature with a comically long tongue sticking out and one giant eyeball, "I call him "Big Mouth"! His insults can cause the rangers emotional **and** physical pain!" He explained.

Rikor was certainly… imaginative, we rarely if ever used his monsters before, usually the members of the order were enough to carry out our deeds in the Dragon Realms, but none of us could possibly have been prepared for the Power Rangers. But I sometimes wished Rikor would put more thought into his monsters, as opposed to making things that were ridiculous and childish. I mean, attacking people with insults? Really?

I began the incantation to bring his ridiculous monster to life, I had done it before, but it was still a very difficult spell to cast, only known to high ranking magic users. But eventually, I managed it, Rikors… "Loud Mouth" was now a living creature, the beast sort of looked around for a moment, god it was revolting to see it in motion, but you worked with what you had not what you wanted, "Go to the human realms, cause as much chaos as you can to draw out the Power Rangers, and then kill them," I ordered the beast.

I then created a portal to the Human Realms which the beast traveled through, hopefully it would be the **only** monster we'd need to use to dispose of those humans.

* * *

 _ **The Next Day…**_

 _ **New Harmony High…**_

* * *

It was weird being in school after the attack, it was as if nothing had even happened yesterday, granted, the attack had happened **after** school, but still, you'd think people would be more on edge. I tried to act casual, walking over to my locker to put my stuff away, however…

 _ **SLAM!**_

It seems in all the Power Ranger related excitement I had forgotten that Jake Roth wanted my head on a pike, evidenced by how he slammed his fist against the locker right next to me, "You should have just stayed away from me Foutler!" He growled, "You and Naton humiliated me in front of the entire football team yesterday! If you thought I was going to kill you before..." He added, you'd think after nearly getting killed by rock monsters Jake would forget about me but nope, dude was dedicated I'll give him that much.

I glared at him, "Roth, why don't you just back off?" I snarled, I was **not** going to take Roth's crap after the day I had yesterday, I was the freaking Red Ranger for god sake! I had more important things on my plate than Roth's inferiority complex! God I just wanted to clock him right in the jaw.

Roth pushed me against the locker, "Oh yeah? And who's going to make me huh? You?" he said, suddenly every eye in the hallway was on us, expecting a fight to break out any second.

I so wanted to just clock Roth right in the face, wipe that smug grin right off his face, however, " _No Dylan! Some battles are best walked away from, this is one of them,_ " Said Ignitus, dude you don't know Roth like I do! This clown has been asking for an ass kicking since eighth grade! " _I know about as much as you do, enough to know he isn't worth your anger, walk away,_ " Ignitus sounded again, it was clear from his tone he wasn't taking no for an answer.

Roth grabbed me by the shirt, "Come on Foutler! You wanna fight me? Fight ME!" He screamed, slamming me into the locker, this was getting ridiculous, normally I would have done **something** by now, but the nagging nanny in my brain wouldn't let me for some stupid reason.

However before things could escalate, "Mr. Roth, Mr. Foutler, what is going on here?" One of the teachers said, marching towards us, "You two can see me after school, I will not tolerate fighting on school grounds!" The teacher snapped.

Roth let go of my shirt, "This isn't over Foutler," He hissed at me before storming off.

Great, now I got detention! All because Roth holds a grudge with a death grip! And thanks to Ignitus, I looked like a coward on top of it, I should of clocked the jerk in his stupid face, " _And then you would be in far_ _ **more**_ _trouble than you are now, it's like I said young human, some battles are best walked away from,_ " Ignitus chimed in. I didn't ask for your commentary dude.

* * *

 _ **Later…**_

 _ **Lunch…**_

* * *

The rest of the day had gone mostly without incident, Roth still gave me death glares every time we crossed paths, and I still had that detention looming over me, but other than that my day was just about the same as it'd always been. But one thing that was different today is that my fellow rangers and I spent a bit more time together, evidenced by how we all sat at the same lunch table today.

I was filling everyone in on what had happened, "So why didn't you clock Roth in his stupid face again?" Kevin asked me.

I shook my head, god I was going to sound like a lunatic, "My… "Dragon Spirit" told me not to, this voice guy who keeps talking to me from my morpher," I said, god I sounded insane.

However, oddly the others seemed to react with a mix of relief and surprise, "You have one of those too?" Dean suddenly asked, it seemed I wasn't the only one who had a dragon haunting their brain… goodie.

Kevin sighed in relief, "I thought I was the only one," He said.

Jess sort of rubbed her finger around the rim of her Spirit Gem, "They're like guides or teachers, I think they're supposed to guide us on how to use our powers or something," Jess theorized.

Kevin just scoffed, "Cyril apparently didn't get the memo, all he's done is nag me about "keeping appearances up" and "being online too much," it's like having a movie critic in my brain," He said, revealing his dragon spirits name to be Cyril.

Dean chuckled, "I haven't really had any problems with Terrador," Dean said, also revealing his dragon spirit's name to be Terrador.

Jess sort of fidgeted a little, "Volteer kinda has a tendency to ramble, but he did help me finish my science homework last night," She said, it seemed all four of us had a dragon ghost in our morphers, as if being a Power Ranger wasn't weird enough by itself, now we had dragons taking refuge in our brains… god that sounded bad out of context… and even a little **in** context come to think of it.

I groaned, "Yeah, but all Ignitus accomplished was making me look like a wuss in front of the entire school," I said.

Dean however didn't seem to see it that way, "Or he just saved you from getting suspended," He said, "Roth will back off at some point, there's no need to beat him up man," He added.

However, before I could give my side of the argument, all of our morphers sounded with a loud beep, suddenly a hologram shot out from them, showing a tiny little Spyro head that looked like it was sticking out from the table, not exactly the most dignified showing of the great purple dragon I must say, "Rangers, sorry to interrupt but Malefor has sent a monster loose in the city, you need to stop it before it hurts someone," He instructed us before disappearing as quickly as he came.

This however, created a problem, "How the hell are we going to get out of here without anyone noticing?" I asked, no one seemed to have an answer, as an awkward silence befell the group.

However, Kevin suddenly had an idea, as he grabbed the mashed potatoes right off his tray, "FOOD FIGHT!" He screamed as he tossed them right at some poor soul across the room, and in nothing flat the entire cafeteria descended into chaos as food began to fly! "There, now the teachers are gonna be too distracted by the food fight to stop us," He said.

You know Kevin, there were better ways of getting us out of the cafeteria than starting a food fight! Now we had to dodge flying food as we tried to sneak out of the cafeteria! Thanks a lot oh great Blue Ice Ranger!

We all managed it however, although Dean got hit in the head with a flying milk carton, and I took a chicken nugget to the eye… the **eye**! But once we got out we were ready to go after our monster.

It took a bit of looking but eventually we found it just sort of stumbling around town hall, waving it's stubby arms around like a guy in a bulky costume, it could only be described as an eyeball with arms and legs and a large goofy grin and long tongue sticking out, I guess Malefor didn't go for aesthetics when picking his monsters. "Hey you!" I shouted. The monster turned, "You picked the wrong city to mess with pal! _**It's morphing time!**_ "

" _ **Legendary Dragon! Power of Red Fire!"**_

" _ **Legendary Dragon! Power of Blue Ice!"**_

" _ **Legendary Dragon! Power of Yellow Electricity!**_ "

" _ **Legendary Dragon! Power of Green Earth!"**_

With our morphing done, we quickly went after the creature, kicking and punching it, I almost felt bad for the thing but considering I had a **bit** of aggression to work out right now, the monster must suffer. However, suddenly it turned to Kevin, "Ha! You act all cool, but deep down you know you'll never be good enough!" It said, before I could even question it, Kevin was suddenly sent sailing backwards in a wave of sparks. Well that was odd, the monster began to laugh, "Ha! You Rangers are so thin skinned! One little insult and you fall apart!" It cackled.

Dean summoned his Earth Ax, "I don't know what you did to Kevin, but I'm not going to fall so easily you overgrown eyeball!" He said before lunging at the thing.

However, "Ha! You're nothing but a dumb jock pretending to be a super hero! A shame daddy never comes to your games huh?" It said, how the hell did it know that? But just like Kevin, Dean was suddenly bombarded by a spark explosion, knocking him to the ground.

Jess was next, trying to get the monster with a roundhouse kick, "You're nothing but a whiny, wilting flower who couldn't even make friends beyond her stupid pet jock!" It said, same result as the previous two, sparks then grounded.

"Sword of Flame!" I summoned my sword, "You picked a **bad** day to tick me off!" I growled before going for a huge slash, but the monster rolled out of the way.

I readied for another attack, "Ha! You like to think your tough Foutler, but deep down you're just a scared little boy," The creature said, oh you son of a bitch! You're gonna-

 _ **BOOM!**_

Before I knew it, I was blown right off my feet, sent sailing through the air, I tried to catch myself, but the monster wasn't done with me yet, "Aww, what's the matter? Little Red Ranger gonna cry?" The monster mocked me, oh I am going to **enjoy** beating your face into mush! "Maybe you can go tell daddy about it? Oh that's right! You **can't** can you?!" it laughed.

I growled, "Don't you talk about my father!" I screamed before another spark explosion knocked me back, sending me tumbling ass over tea kettle right into a hedge.

This guy is **so** dead! " _Dylan stop! This creature is using your anger against you! Calm down and don't pay his words any heed!_ " Ignitus said, but all I cared about right not was taking this son of a bitch down!

I charged him again, sword held high, ready to cleave this jerk in two! "Oh you're a **lot** of fun red boy," The monster teased before dodging my slash, "Another wild swing from the wild man! What's wrong? You mad Red Ranger?" it mocked me again.

And just like before, I got blown up, and that one put me down for the count, my body hurt too much to even lift my head, god what keeps hitting me? I tried in vain to stand up but my body made it's case very sternly that I was going to lay down and like it. I heard the monster's annoying laugh as I fell uselessly to the ground, "You teenagers are all the same, you just can't take it when someone makes fun of you!" It snickered.

Wait… is that what was happening? It's insults were literally hurting me? God that is so dumb, but yet, so weirdly ingenious… "And now… to finish the "brave" Red Ranger off for good!" It said, oh god it was seriously going to murder me with sick burns… life is stupid…

However, before that could happen, " _ **LIGHTENING STRIKE!**_ " Jess came for the save with a lightening bolt right to it's back sending it tumbling back, "You seemed to have forgotten you have three other rangers to deal with!" She said. The other two rangers joined her side, weapons drawn.

The monster got up, "You haven't seen the last of me Power Dorks! I'll be back!" it said before vanishing in a puff of smoke.

The others quickly rushed to help me up, "Dylan? You okay dude?' Kevin asked as he helped me to my feet.

It took a minute for me to recover, "I… I'm okay…" I said, I was honestly more humiliated than anything else really. I let that stupid monster get the better of me. That's twice now I've let some jerk get one over on me today. Speaking of, "We'd better get back to school, I still have to serve that detention with Roth," I said.

We all de-morphed and left, suffering our first defeat as Power Rangers, I doubt it'd be the last one either…

* * *

 _ **Later…**_

 _ **Detention…**_

* * *

We hadn't heard anything from Spyro about the monster for the rest of the school day, I was still kicking myself for letting that thing get the better of me like that! Man I suck, but I knew that next time I saw that thing, I'm taking it out.

But first, I had to deal with detention, and Jake Roth. Can't decide which one is worse really. It was only me and Roth in here though which I found a bit odd, you'd think more than just the two of us would have gotten in trouble today especially after the food fight Kevin started.

Neither of us dared utter a word, just exchanging the occasional dirty look, however this stalemate was broken when the teacher entered the room, "Dylan Foutler, Jacob Roth, you two know why you're in here right?" The teacher asked us.

"Because Roth is a violent psychopath and I just happened to be his target?" I said, Jake didn't take too kindly to that comment, as his face showed nothing but pure rage, but knew if he up and attacked me the teacher would stop him.

Speaking of the teacher, "Not exactly Mr. Foutler," he said, "You two have been at each other's throats all year, and I'm putting an end to it today, that is why I had you two separated from the rest of the students serving detention today, we are **going** to end your little feud today," The teacher said.

Jake stood up, "Screw that! The only way I'm **not** pounding Foutler is if he's expelled!" Roth blurted, or **you're** expelled, I'm pretty sure admitting to the teacher you're going to physically assault me isn't going to win him over.

The teacher responded to that how you'd expect, "Sit back down Mr. Roth, or I'll have to speak with your coach about removing you from the team," He threatened him, Roth reluctantly sat back down. "Now then, you two are going to be doing some cleaning around the school, hopefully a joint task will get you two to find some common ground and cease this insipid fighting," He said before handing Roth and I two trash bags.

So **that** 's his plan? I have to clean up the school with psycho Jake? Hell no! Jake was probably going to shove **me** into the dumpster out back and leave me there! "Don't even argue with me Mr. Foutler!" The teacher suddenly said, "I see that look on your face, but you need to set aside your anger if you're going to get anywhere in life," He added.

* * *

 _ **Later…**_

* * *

The teacher brought us outside, "The attack yesterday did a lot of damage to the football field and parking area, Principal O'Hara wants both cleaned today, and if I see even **one** punch thrown while you're out here, you're both suspended! Am I clear?" He said, both of us reluctantly nodded. "Good, now get to work," He said before leaving.

I can't believe I'm doing this, and with one of Malefor's monsters on the loose to boot! I'm sure the others are out looking for it while I waste away the afternoon with one of my least favorite people in the whole school! How is **that** fair? "This is all **your** fault Foutler!" Roth yelled, "Now I have to clean up those monster's mess because you can't take a punch!" He snapped.

I turned to him, "Me? How about the violent neanderthal that decided to jump me this morning? Oh I forgot, nothing's **your** fault right?" I snapped back, this was already miserable enough on it's own, I did **not** need Roth trying to pin the blame on me on top of it!

Roth sneered, "You're the asshole who brought his stupid friend to humiliate me yesterday! Not to mention all the times you've beaten me and my friends up! So don't go playing innocent you scrawny little twerp!" He snapped back, there was no reasoning with him, the guy was a grade a jerk store and there was no changing that.

"I only beat you guys up because you're attacking me first! It's called self defense Roth!" I snapped back. This whole thing wasn't going to accomplish a thing, Jake always thought everything was everyone's fault but his, dude's just a psychopath!

I just went back to picking up broken pieces of fence and trash, the sooner I got this done, the sooner I could get away from the brainless wonder! " _Despite Jacob being clearly in the wrong, you have to admit your temper_ _ **has**_ _contributed to this problem,_ " Said Ignitus, come on dude not now, I'm already miserable enough already! _"You too often let anger corrupt you Dylan, in the fight with Scorn, the monster, and your dealings with Jake Roth, you need to learn to temper your anger,"_ He continued, _"Anger is like fire Dylan, uncontrolled it spreads and destroys everything in it's path, you must learn to control your temper,"_ He added.

What do you want me to do? Make friends with the violent neanderthal that's been tormenting me since middle school? " _No, I want you to make peace with him,_ _Like I said, anger is like fire and destroys everything, Jacob Roth has already allowed his own anger to destroy his life, do you really wish the same for yourself?_ " asked Ignitus.

As much as I hated to admit it, he had a point, just look at Roth! He's an asshole, and in turn lost all the respect of his peers. His girlfriend dumped him, his coach is considering cutting him, his grades are in the toilet, as much as I like to think I'm nothing like Jake, my short temper has caused me to mess up more than a few times, and my only real friends are the other rangers, _"Sometimes it takes the failings of another to see the flaws in ourselves, let go of your hatred Dylan, make peace with Roth,"_ Ignitus said.

God I hate this, the last thing I wanted was to interact with Roth, but if Ignitus was right…

 **BOOM**!

You've gotta be kidding me! Here? Now? Sadly yes, as it seemed that Malefor has decided to send more grublins to attack the school again, I guess when at first you don't succeed, try and try again until it eventually works! "Crap!" exclaimed Roth, "It's those monsters again! What do we do?" He asked.

It was weird seeing Roth express an emotion that wasn't either smugness, or rage, and as much as I'd love to leave Roth to the mercy of the Grublins, Ignitus was right, I needed to move on from hating Roth, it wasn't worth it, especially in the face of earth's destruction, honestly given a choice between the two, I'd take Roth over Malefor any day, at least Roth wasn't a world destroying maniac! He was just a jerk at worst, "We're going to have to work together and fight them off," I said.

Roth did a double take, "Are you serious?! Why the hell would I work with you?!" He yelled.

I guess I should have expected that reaction in fairness, but still, "Because the teacher is right! We **do** need to get over this dumb feud! And if we don't those things are going to kill someone! So get over yourself and fight the monsters Roth!" I snapped.

Roth went to argue, but one look at the current situation caused him to rethink his stance, "Fine! But I still think your a worthless dork!" He said, I guess that was as far as I was going to get with him, and I think dealing with these Grublins would be a lot more satisfying as a team building exercise than cleaning junk up off the floor.

So both of us began to fight the rock monster foot soldiers, despite being a violent jock, Roth wasn't doing too bad against the Grublins, kicking and punching them away, he still had no form or anything, but it was something.

I meanwhile, was doing much better against them this time than I was the first time I tried fighting these things, I don't know if my status as a Power Ranger had anything to do with it or not but I wasn't exactly going to look a gift horse in the mouth.

Roth then went for the dumpster, opening the lid, "Yo Foutler! Let's take out that trash!" He said, I will say right now it is **weird** hearing him say that and agreeing with it, I kicked a Grublin right into the dumpster, Roth tossing another one in and slamming the lid on them, soon enough Roth and I began to think the herd significantly, and soon they were all down. "I have to say Foutler, for a nerd, you fight pretty good," He said.

Was… was that a compliment? From Jake Roth?! "Thanks, you didn't do too bad yourself for a psycho neanderthal," I said back, maybe Ignitus was right after all and I **did** need to move past my hatred of Jake? I felt better already in fact.

However, suddenly someone else decided to join the party, "Well well, if it isn't my favorite little playmate," Said the monster from earlier, that explained why the Grublins were here, apparently the monster wanted another shot at me.

There was no way I could fight this thing unmorphed, but I couldn't morph in front of Roth without revealing my secret identity either, "Roth, go get help, evacuate the others if you can, I'll hold this thing off!" I said, if I could get Jake to break off from me this would be a lot easier.

However, "Are you insane?! That thing will kill you!" He objected, Jake being concerned for my safety was surreal to put it nicely, but I really needed him to bail right now.

"I'll be fine, just do it!" I said, Roth went to argue, but decided to comply, running off to evacuate the school.

The monster laughed, "Well aren't we a brave little Power Ranger! Too bad you can't hope to beat me! You're too hot headed and you know it!" It said.

I braced for another explosion, but nothing came, "What?! Why didn't that hurt you?! My insults are supposed to hurt people!" The monster whined, stamping it's foot like a petulant child.

It took my a minute to get what was happening here, but I eventually figured it out, "I need to control my anger," I said to myself, it made sense, the monster's insults only physically hurt, when they _emotionally_ hurt, as long as I let go of my anger and took it's insults on the chin did I stand a chance against the thing. "You can't hurt me with your words if I don't let them hurt me! Words only have as much power as you give them! And I choose to give them **no** power!" I said, man it felt good to finally get one over on this thing! "And now, it's time for me to give **myself** more power!" I said.

" _ **Legendary Dragon! Power of Red Fire!"**_

The monster growled in annoyance as I morphed, "You think you can beat me Red Ranger? You can never beat me! You don't have what it takes and never will!" He said, trying once again to hurt me with his words to no avail.

"Sword of Flame!" I called, summoning my weapon, "Just give it a rest dude, sticks and stones may break my bones but your lame insults will never harm me!" I said, I began to charge my fire energy into my sword, causing it to light on fire, "But I'm sure that **this** will harm **you** plenty!" I said before winding up my swing, " _ **FLAME SLASH!**_ " I called out before slashing downward with my sword, slicing him right across his giant eye.

The monster screamed as he fell backwards in a flaming heap, I turned around, striking a pose as the monster exploded behind me… badass…

* * *

 _ **Meanwhile…**_

 _ **Back at Malefor's Castle…**_

* * *

Dammit! I should have known that Rikor's stupid monster wouldn't be able to kill the Power Rangers on it's own! Even **with** the Grublins I sent to aid it! There was only one option now, I grabbed one of my growth potions, "You may think you've won Red Ranger, but let's see how you fare against Loud Mouth when he's as tall as a mountain!" I said before opening a portal and tossing the potion through it.

* * *

 _ **Back at the School…**_

* * *

I heard the sounds of glass shattering behind me, confused, I turned around only to see the monster was now suddenly a hundred feet tall! Oh was this bad! I was alone here so summoning the Mega Zord was out of the question, I guess I could try fighting it in my own zord but it would still have a size advantage!

"Dylan!"

Suddenly the other rangers showed up, "Roth was evacuating the school," Said Jess, "We came as soon as we could when he told us you were still in the parking lot!" She added, Jake Roth just unwittingly saved my life, I needed a moment to let that sink in, but not too long as that monster wasn't going to wait for me to get over my shock before squishing us like bugs!

" _ **We need Dragon Zord Power NOW!"**_

Just like they did yesterday, our Zords came flying in, only this time instantly forming the Mega Zord! Well that was convenient! We all leaped into the Mega Zord, ready to take this thing down, "Alright guys! This guy's powerless if we don't let his insults get to us, so keep your heads up and let's take this thing down!" I said.

Kevin just slowly turned his head towards me, "Wait… **that** s what was making us explode? Who even comes **up** with something like that?" He questioned.

Dean leaned forward, "Dude, we're in a giant robot made from several other giant robots fighting a giant monster, don't question it," He said. Kevin just sort of threw his hands in the air and we went to work.

The monster began to cackle again, "You think your stupid robot can beat me? I bet you can't even drive that thing!" It tried to mock us, man was that weak, he's really running out of material if **that** s the best roast he's got.

The Mega Zord simply decked the monster in the face with it's giant metal fist, knocking the stupid thing over, "Your words don't cut as well as they used to dude, but **this** sure will!" I said, " _ **Legendary Dragon Sword!**_ " I called, summoning the giant sword again, the sword began to glow with it's signature purple energy again.

The Mega Zord swung down, slicing the monster in two, "NO! This can't be! I can't be beaten by dorks like you! NOOOO!" It cried before exploding… again.

We all cheered in celebration, "Now **that's** what I call a roast!" said Kevin, coming in once again with the groan worthy pun, not that I was much better with the cutting pun, but hey, I got wrapped up in the moment.

* * *

 _ **Later…**_

* * *

After the dust settled and the zords went away, I found everyone out front, Jake waiting for me, "There you are Foutler, I thought when that thing grew you'd be squished or something," He said, it was still weird having him be anything but homicidal towards me, but I guess the situation had changed his tune a bit.

I had to think of an excuse though, "Y… yeah, thankfully the Power Rangers came when they did or I'd be dead right now," I said, I guess it wasn't a total lie, if the others hadn't found me I probably **would** have been killed.

Then the teacher came up to us, "Well, it seems something good has come out of this sudden monster attack, it's good to see you two have put your little feud behind you," He said.

Roth and I both just looked at each other, I knew we'd never be friends, but maybe we could at least not be trying to kill each other, "Yeah, I guess it did," I said simply, Roth oddly nodded in agreement.

He then cocked his head, "Don't get it twisted though, you're still a dweeb," He said, well I guess I couldn't expect anything else really.

But it was fine, I guess I learned something today, that I shouldn't let my anger control me, both as the Red Fire Ranger, and Dylan Foutler, Roth and I will **never** be friends, but that doesn't mean I need to be hostile with him either… I actually feel much better now that I've let go of that hatred just like Ignitus told me, thanks Ignitus.

He didn't say anything, but I could have sworn I heard Ignitus chuckle a bit from my morpher…

* * *

 **A/N- Ah it's just not Power Rangers without the moral at the end is it? I wanted to use this kind of monster to establish some things about the rangers, things that I do plan on expanding on later on.**

 **Character Development! I have it! Power Rangers Megaforce didn't….**

 **Foowd-1**

 **Actual Professional Writers-0**

 **Your move writers… your move...**

 **Update 8/9/18: Fixing a few embarrassing typos**


	4. Broken Ice

**C** **hapter 3:** **Broken Ice**

* * *

"SIYAAAH!"

This was seriously how I was spending my nights? Practicing martial arts forms using YouTube videos as my instructor, I was so rusty with Karate since I hadn't really even used it since Dylan and I were kids. Dylan had kept up with it trying to fend off Roth and his goons. Me on the other hand? I was so rusty you could mistake me for an abandoned car.

Which normally wouldn't be an issue since fighting was frowned upon in the **real** world. But since I had to save the world now, I needed to relearn my forms and stuff. I felt like an asshole doing it in my bedroom though, thank god no one can see me right now, I had a reputation to keep you know.

I heard the faint sounds of voices downstairs, god it sounded like Mom and Dad were at it again, I tried to keep my focus on my training, but their voices were too loud to ignore.

I stopped where I was and left the room to find the two arguing again, "I'm just looking out for our son's future! He needs to be able to get the education he needs! How's he supposed to get anywhere in life if he never goes to college?" Mom yelled.

Oh no, not **this** again, "Yeah, and when you get the money for that let me know! We can barely afford this house let alone college!" Dad snapped back.

Mom and Dad argued a lot, but the college thing was a major one, it was always about money, "So you're willing to destroy your own son's future just to save a few bucks?! Kevin deserves better than to waste away his life working retail!" Screamed Mom.

I just sat there on the stairs in silence, god why did they always have to fight? I wasn't even sure if I **wanted** to go to college, I didn't even like school all that much, but they didn't need to get so… hostile about it. I got up and went back into my room, trying to put their arguing out of my head.

" _I'm guessing that happens often?_ " Cyril asked me, ugh… I keep forgetting he can hear my thoughts, I hated talking about my parents, especially their arguments, I just wished it would stop already, " _Perhaps moving your training to somewhere quieter would suffice? Honestly their arguing is starting to bother_ _ **me**_ _as well,_ " Cyril suggested.

That wasn't a bad idea actually, anything to get away from their screaming. I closed my laptop and opened my bedroom window, I instantly had flashbacks to when I was little, and I used to sneak out to hide in the surrounding forests, pretending it was a magical world or something, it helped me distract myself from the harsh reality I found myself surrounded by everyday.

The forest wasn't too far from the house, so I could still use our Wi-Fi to play the instructional videos, I found a nice spot, a good opening in the middle, surrounded by trees and the gentle sounds of nature, a welcome change from the war of words my parents seemed to be forever trapped in.

I simply picked up where I left off, punches and kicks, letting my anger at the situation power my strikes, years of anger and sadness released with every punch and kick, trying my best not to think about the hell my home life had become. But it was nice to get away from there, if even for a little while, just to escape for a single precious moment.

After a while I had decided to stop for the night and just relax, I didn't really want to go home yet, I wanted to let the two finish their argument before heading back, I just sat in the spot I always went to when I was younger, a hill that overlooked a part of the town, the lights of the night city were beautiful, almost serene, calming…

" _Do your friends know? About your parents I mean?_ " Cyril suddenly asked me, I hadn't told anyone but Dylan about my parents, I hated talking about it, I was embarrassed by it, parents are supposed to love each other aren't they? Why did **I** have to get two that hated each other, it's a wonder they haven't divorced yet! " _I've never exactly been good with consoling those in distress, that was usually Ingitus or Volteer's forte,_ " Said Cyril, " _But I would be remiss if I didn't tell you that this is not your doing Kevin, some people are just like this, even the great ice dragons of old had their squabbles,_ " He said.

I sighed, it wasn't that simple, I just wanted us to be a family, it didn't seem like that much to ask for, but apparently my parents felt differently, finding it more worthwhile to waste the day away screaming about something. " _I understand, but there's no need to feel responsible, this is not your fault,_ " Cyril tried reassuring me. If that's true, then why did it feel like it was? Like I did something wrong? I don't really know, but it just felt that way sometimes…

I should probably head home now, they should be done screaming each other's heads off by now…

* * *

 _ **Meanwhile…**_

 _ **Malefor's Castle…**_

* * *

Twice now Scorn and Rikor had failed to kill those infernal Power Rangers, it was beginning to try my patience, they were just children, they shouldn't be **this** hard to kill! "Rikor!" I roared.

Rikor jumped, startled by my booming voice, "Y… yes Lord Malefor?" He said, almost dropping his latest clay creation.

I didn't hide my annoyance, these fools feared me and I wished to keep it that way, "I'm growing tired of these Power Rangers, you'd best have a means of dealing with them," I said.

Rikor placed his clay monster on the table, it resembled a bat with hook hands and a hideously deformed face, "I call him Dread Bat! His sonic wail can knock victims right off their feet!" He explained.

These humans were becoming a nuisance, and unneeded complication, these Realms needed to be cleansed and I would **not** have a bunch of brightly colored teenage humans interfere with my plans! "Have Scorn bring it to life and send it down, I'm done playing games with these humans, we must double our efforts to destroy these Power Rangers, I want stronger monsters and stronger Grublins. I've made the mistake of underestimating my enemies before, I will not do it again," I said before taking my leave, it was insulting I would have to put this much effort into destroying a bunch of hapless hatchlings in colorful tights, but this is what they and Spyro have reduced me to.

I will not lose this time Spyro, this time, you will be the one that falls… you **and** your precious Power Rangers!

* * *

 _ **The Next Day…**_

 ** _Gray's National Park, New Harmony_**

* * *

Saturday, before it used to be my break from school, a chance to hang out with friends and goof off for a while, escape my home life, but now that I was a Power Ranger, all that gained a giant question mark next to it since I had no clue if Malefor was going to send another monster after us or not.

Right now I found myself in the park, a place I rarely came to of my own free will, but after last night and all the madness of being the Blue Ranger, I kinda welcomed the boring, quiet, normal park. Just sitting on a bench, watching people go about their average normal days, it was a welcome change of pace.

"Hey dude,"

I looked to see Dylan had happened upon me, "You look rough, long night?" He asked me as he sat next to me.

I sighed, "It's that obvious huh?" I said, he nodded, "Last night was another one of **those** nights ya know?" I said, hoping he'd get the hint.

He leaned back in the bench, "Your parents get into a screaming match again?" He asked me, I nodded, "Don't worry about it dude, they wouldn't still be together if they didn't at least care about each other a little," He said trying to reassure me, but they were words I had heard a million times before, hollow and meaningless as they always were.

However, I was broken out of my self loathing stupor by the sound of a distant scream, Dylan and I turned to see people running away from an army of grublins and what could only be described as some kind of deformed bat creature, "Well look who showed up to be your stress relief! Shall we?" Dylan said.

You know what? I could use a little monster bashing to make myself feel a little better. "It's Morphin' time!" Dylan called.

" _ **Legendary Dragon! Power of Red Fire!"**_

" _ **Legendary Dragon! Power of Blue Ice!"**_

Dylan and I leaped into the air, doing a flip in midair before landing right in front of the monster and Grublins, "You picked a bad day to attack my city you overgrown flying rat!" I said.

The bat just sort of giggled, "Oh really? Let's see how these Grublins feel about **that** Blue Ranger! Get them!" He ordered the monsters, and with that, they began their attack, Dylan and I went to town on them, every crushing punch and devastating kick made me feel a little better. Man, who'd of thought that being a Power Ranger would be such good stress relief?

Dylan found himself surrounded by Grublins, "You guys really think you have me don't you?" He asked before taking out his Sword of Flame, " _ **FIRE SPIN!**_ " He cried as he spun around with his sword, creating a wheel of fire that blasted the surrounding Grublins back.

I took out my Lance of Ice, "You guys look a bit warm, how's about I cool you off?" I said before taking a huge swing with my lance, freezing each one that was unfortunate enough to make contact with it's blade, "Now that's what I call being put on ice!" I said, the pun was bad sure, but sometimes I just can't help myself.

The Grublins were soon all dealt with, leaving only the monster to deal with now, "Alright bat boy, it's two on one, best give up now while you still can!" Dylan said, I'm not sure why Dylan is telling the monster this, it's not like they **ever** surrender. Far more content with trying to beat our faces in than preserve itself in any way.

The bat laughed, "I think it's **you** that should be asking for mercy human!" It said before unleashing a **very** loud screech! My ears erupted into pure agony as the wail ravaged my eardrums, I tried to cover them but since I was kinda wearing a hard, plastic helmet, that was a no go.

The sound wave knocked both of us back, hitting the ground with a thud. "How'd you like **that** Power Rangers?" The Bat mocked us, "A bit too loud for you? What can I say? I'm a very **loud** bat!" It giggled.

Dylan and I both got up, "Dude, my ears are ringing, I'm amazed I can still hear at all!" Dylan whined, I can't say I disagree, my ears were still reeling from that scream, and here I thought my parents were unbearably loud!

I readied my lance, "We have to take this thing down before it gets anyone else with that loud mouth of his!" I said, I leaped into the air, coming down with a huge downward slice with my lance, but the bat blocked it with one of it's hook hands before using the other one to slash me right across the chest.

Sparks burst from the cut as I was sent flying backwards, I rolled back to my feet, but I could still feel that last cut, causing me to clutch my chest, "Dammit! This guy is tough!" I said.

Dylan however didn't seem too intimidated, "But he's not tougher than us!" He said before lunging for the bat, swinging his sword which the bat also deflected with his hook hands, getting Dylan with a few slashes of his own.

This was getting ridiculous now, we were getting our butts kicked by a giant bat of all things, "You two are way out of your league! Master Malefor will be pleased when I tell them how easily I destroyed two Power Rangers!" The creature cackled.

This was hopeless, I felt so powerless right now, nothing I did even dented the thing, who am I even kidding, I was always powerless! Powerless to stop my parents from fighting, powerless to keep my head in check, and too powerless to stop Malefor's monsters.

"That's what you think fuzzball!"

Suddenly a rock and a lightening bolt hit the monster dead on, knocking it to the ground, just then the Green and Yellow Rangers landed in front of us, "Because you still have two more to deal with!" Said Dean.

Jess offered a hand to me, "You okay Kevin?" She asked me, I took her hand and she helped me up, thank god they came along, I doubt Dylan and I would have lasted much longer on our own.

We all surrounded the bat, "What now? There's four of us and one of you!" said Dylan, the bat's only response was to launch itself at us. All four of us began to fight the thing, Jess tried to slice it with her daggers but the monster jumped back, only for Dean to clock it in the head with the flat side of his ax.

The bat stumbled, but was quickly back on the offensive, Dylan and I both threw a jumping front kick, nailing it in the chest, sending it back further, the bat slashed at us in retaliation, knocking both of us back, only for Jess and Dean to leap over us and deliver a double team drop kick knocking it to the ground.

Dylan and I stood in front, with Dean and Jess at our sides, "Give up you overgrown flying rat!" I said, "You did well when it was just me and Dylan, but against all four of us you don't have a chance!" I said, the monster simply growled in response, clearly getting frustrated now.

The bat got up, "You think you four can beat me?! You forget I have **this**!" It said before unleashing another sonic wail, all four of us clutched our heads in pain, dammit I forgot about that! I couldn't give this thing an opening or I was done for, I have… fight through it! The pain was immense, but I ignored the pain, fist clenched, which soon was covered in ice, pointed at the end like a punching dagger.

I ran up to the thing, hoping to god I didn't lose my hearing because of this, "Hey bat face! Chew on this!" I said before leaping into the air, fist cocked back, before I delivered a well placed punch right between the eyes, the sharp ice stabbing right into it's forehead, causing it to unleash a very different, less painful for me, kind of wail. One of pure agony, I had him now, the creature stumbled backwards, "You think your yelling is going to stop me? I've dealt with people yelling for as long as I can remember! You can't hurt me you overgrown fuzzball!" I said.

The four of us gathered together, " _Now Kevin,_ " Said Cyril, " _Combine your weapons with the others and finish this abomination off, I'_ _m personally_ _sick of seeing it's_ _hideous_ _face,_ " He instructed me. You and me both Cyril, although I had no idea our weapons **could** combine like that.

" _ **Ax of Earth!**_ " Dean called as he twisted his ax off a hinge, making it resemble a rifle before tossing it into the air.

" _ **Daggers of Lightening**_!" Jess said, she too tossed her daggers into the air, which both clicked onto the sides of Dean's ax, forming two handles on the side.

I was next, I separated the two sides of my ice lance, " _ **Lance of Ice!**_ " I called before tossing the two sides into the air, combining with the ax at the top forming an iron sight.

" _ **Sword of Fire!**_ " Dylan cried, he waited for the combined weapons to drop before slapping his sword right on the top, forming what could only be described as a giant death laser.

We all grabbed onto the device, " _ **Legendary Elemental Dragon Blaster!**_ " We all called, " **FIRE!** " We then shouted before the weapons fired all four elements at the thing the combined blast hit him dead on, causing a huge explosion. Just like that, the job was done, the monster defeated, and we didn't even need to form the Mega Zord to do it!

" _You see Kevin,_ " Cyril began, "You're not powerless, the four of you together, you can overcome just about anything," He told me, he had a point though, corny as it may be, alone I felt powerless, afraid, like I wasn't in control of my own life, but with my friends, I was a hero, a Power Ranger, I had stability as long as I had my friends to hold me up. And while I still long for parents that got along, at least I had my friends to help me through it all.

And having mystical weapons that combine into an even **bigger** weapon didn't hurt none, because everything's better with giant lasers! Am I right? Come on! Tell me I'm right.

* * *

 _ **Meanwhile…**_

* * *

Another miserable failure! This was beginning to anger me! They hadn't even needed to deploy their giant robot this time! I wanted **stronger** monsters not weaker ones! I stormed over to Rikor, "M.. Master Malefor! I'm sorry! I don't know wha-" He began but I didn't allow him to finish.

I grabbed the miserable creature by the throat, and hoisted him high into the air, "These Power Rangers have made a fool of me for a **third** time now! And all **you** have is excuses! I have no need of excuses! I want results! Find a way to destroy the Power Rangers or else suffer my wrath!" I threatened him, I then tossed him to the ground as he sputtered and gasped for air, I was not going to allow this humiliation to continue, it was becoming a matter of personal pride for me now, I was the Dark Master! The Purple Dragon! I was not about to be bested by mere children!

I looked to the viewing globe again, those worthless humans were celebrating another ill deserved victory, "Celebrate while you can you miserable wretches, for your end will come soon enough," I growled. I would break these pathetic creatures yet…

* * *

 **A/N: Now Malefor, all choking your employees will do is create a hostile work environment, you need to encourage your workers to get results and create good synergy!**

 **Sorry I took so long with this chapter, it seems my writers block had extended to this story too.**

 **I did try adding more detail to the fight scenes though, as they felt a bit too rushed to me previously, as always feedback is most appreciated.**


	5. Livewire

**Chapter 4: Livewire**

* * *

I've always loved music, ever since I was a little girl I've always wanted to be a musician, to play songs for thousands of adoring fans, music was my escape from a world of worry, where my dad was a SWAT officer always in danger every time he went to work, where I was bullied for being a band geek, where I was so afraid to try to make friends due to my own social anxiety, and where I was now a Power Ranger expected to protect the whole world from an evil dragon.

To me, music was the only thing in the world that brought me balance and peace. I find myself contemplating this while I sat in the hall outside of the currently locked music room, watching everyone pass by, too afraid to even try to make a connection with anyone.

I just sat there, alone with my flute, silent and disconnected as always, my Dragon Spirit Volteer was a lot like Dean in that he tried to encourage me to come out of my shell and put myself out there, but a deep part of me refused to do it, preferring the safety of solitude, the outsider looking in, never daring to break free.

"Well well girls, look who it is,"

And here's one of the reasons why, Veronica Stone, the popular girl, she was attractive, athletic, captain of the cheerleader squad, and the one who loved tormenting me the most. Veronica ripped the flute right from my hands, "Hey! Give that back!" I protested.

Veronica and her friends just laughed, "Aw, did we take the ugly band girl's little flute? Honestly Fox why do you even come here? I think we'd all appreciate it if you took your ugly, ratty face, and left," Veronica spat, her words laced with venom as always, so full of inexplicable hatred despite me having done nothing to her.

Veronica handed the flute to her friend who tossed it into a trash can, all three girls cackling like hyenas the entire time, reveling in my torment, and me too afraid to stick up for myself. "Aw… is ugly bitch gonna cry? Huh? God Fox you are **such** a loser," Veronica spat once more, getting uncomfortably close to my face.

"Hey!"

Suddenly the three girls turned to see Dylan and Kevin arrive on the scene, "Okay ladies, that's enough, leave Jess alone," Kevin said. Oh god as if this couldn't get any worse! Knowing I had two more friends would only make Veronica even more intent on ruining my life.

Veronica put a hand on her hip and snorted a catty laugh, "Aw, how sweet, the loser has white knights! Come to save the weeping damsel?" She mocked them.

Dylan got right in her face, "Only loser I see here is you and your friends," He said flatly, I just sat there in the corner, afraid and useless as I always was, too scared to even stand up for myself, having to rely on friends to do it for me like a coward.

Veronica flicked her raven black hair, "Whatever, come on girls, the loser stink is becoming too much for me," She said, and with that Veronica and her cronies walked away, I instantly went to fish my flute out of the trash bin, I'd have to wash it again.

Dylan and Kevin approached me, "Jess you shouldn't let people push you around like that, especially not evil harpies like Veronica Stone," Kevin said, Dylan nodding in agreement, this was a conversation I've had many times with Dean over the years, but I just didn't have it in my to stand up for myself, I was too cowardly, too mousy, I wasn't like Dylan and Kevin, I couldn't make those snappy comebacks and witty insults, I wasn't strong enough, I probably never would be.

I simply brushed past them, "I'm just not like you," I said before leaving for the bathroom to clean my flute, leaving Dylan and Kevin behind me, confused.

I entered the ladies room, washing my flute under the waters of the sink, " _Your friends are right Jessica, you shouldn't let anyone push you around like that,_ " Volteer said from my morpher, I had no response, I just kept washing the flute, " _You may feel as though you lack the fortitude to combat people like Veronica, but you and I both know you are far more_ _courageous_ _than you_ _currently_ _ascertain,_ " He added.

Volteer had this little quirk of his where he'd use needlessly large words in common sentences, I was a pretty intelligent girl so I had no problems understanding him, but the point remained, I wasn't the kind of girl who could stand up for herself, of the four rangers I was the weakest link, the wimpy, timid girl who lucked into a Power Ranger morpher. " _Come now, you know that isn't true, you were chosen for a reason Jessica, you need to have more confidence in yourself,_ " Volteer said, I appreciated he was trying to cheer me up, but I've accepted my place long ago, pretty words weren't going to change that.

* * *

 _ **Meanwhile…**_

 _ **Malefor's Castle…**_

* * *

I've been growing more and more tiresome of my subordinates failure to eliminate the Power Rangers, it was becoming a personal insult that these worthless hatchlings were thwarting every attempt to eliminate them. I would have to come up with a new strategy, throwing monsters at them wasn't working. I debated going down there and eliminating them myself, but I didn't want to validate them with my presence, they were beneath me, and I wanted to prove it.

I wasn't about to be bested by them either though, I would die before I admitted defeat at the hands of yet more children! "Scorn! Rikor!" I called, summoning my two head subordinates, like the obedient pets they were, they came, bowing on one knee in sworn alliance with me. "We must come up with a new strategy for dealing with these… Power Rangers, their constant interference is becoming insulting, I want them dead and I want them dead **now** ," I explained.

The two quivered in fear, as they should, I was a hair's length away from killing them, the only reason they still lived at all was because I needed their services, "Sir..." stammered Scorn, "Perhaps a full on assault on their town would work? Send me with an army of Grublins and I'll reduce their city to rubble," He suggested.

I growled, "Last time I sent you to the Human Realms you were bested by a bunch of children in a giant robot!" I roared, Scorn had failed me already, I wasn't about to make the same mistake twice.

Rikor then piped in, "Wh… what if we sent an elemental golem with him? There are plenty still in the Dragon Realms my lord, setting it loose in the city would cause the group to fracture, making them easier to destroy," He suggested.

Rikor usually wasn't one to think of clever schemes, he was slow witted at the best of times, but this plan had merit, two battalions sent to the Human Realms, forcing the Power Rangers to split up, it was a classic divide and conquer strategy, but one that could work. "Very well, Rikor you shall go to the Dragon Realms and capture a golem, Scorn, I want you to make preparations, but you are **not** to attack until we return," I ordered him before taking my leave, I knew Scorn would disobey me. As fearful as he was of my wrath, he was also quite prideful, I knew how much his defeat at the hands of the Power Rangers burned him, and he would make a grand distraction while Rikor and I hunted for our golem.

* * *

Malefor left shortly afterward, as I watched him leave, I began to think, I needed no golem to defeat the Power Rangers! I was the strongest warrior of my pack, in the **Dragon Realms**! I could easily destroy them all by myself! I made the mistake of underestimating them last time… I will not make the same error twice.

I created a portal to the Human Realms, I would play this smart this time, pick them off one by one like my wolf brethren normally would, and I knew exactly which one I'd pick off first, the Yellow Ranger, she was by far the weakest link, and killing her would panic the other rangers, and like dominoes, they would fall one by one.

I would kill the Power Rangers before Malefor even returned, he would praise me for my strength and ambition! Then no one would ever question my skills as a warrior again!

* * *

 _ **Meanwhile…**_

 _ **New Harmony High Library...**_

* * *

Study hall, I usually tried to use it for it's namesake, studying, but there weren't any major tests coming up and my only homework assignment only managed to eat up a few minutes of it. So I found myself just doodling on my notebook, trying to just keep my mind occupied and off what happened earlier today.

Was Volteer right? Should I make more of an effort to stand up for myself? I never enjoyed conflict, I always tried to take the diplomatic route whenever possible, kind of ironic for a Power Ranger I admit, but it was just my nature. But yet, Veronica continued to make my life a living hell regardless. I wondered if maybe I should just-

"AGH!"

A scream rang out through the otherwise quiet library, I turned to find out why, I almost didn't believe my eyes at first, but soon enough it was clear, for whatever reason, Scorn was here! His sword shimmering in the sunlight seeping through the windows of the library. "Yellow Ranger! I know you are here! I can sense your spirit gem! I come to challenge you to a battle!" He called, he didn't seem to know the Yellow Ranger was me as he just aimlessly wandered the library, he even locked eyes with me for a moment before continuing his stroll. "You **will** accept my challenge Yellow Ranger! Or else, suffer the deaths of the people in this library," He said.

He then suddenly pointed his sword at the librarian, "Shall you be the first to die human?" He whispered to her, a sickening smirk across his face, I sat frozen, unsure what to do, "For every minute you make me wait Yellow Ranger, I kill a human in this library! I wouldn't make me wait too long if I were you," He called out.

I began to panic, Spyro reciting the rule I wasn't to reveal my identity kept repeating in my head, if I revealed myself now I'd lose my powers and I'd be no help to anyone, but I can't sneak off to morph because he was **right there**. He'd see me and try to stop me. But I had to chance it, I couldn't let him kill these people. I slowly got up from my chair, however…

"HALT!"

Scorn noticed me in an instant, "What have we here? A sniveling coward trying to escape before her life is claimed?" He said, any doubts over him not knowing I was the yellow ranger were eliminated, he thought I was trying to run, not that the thought hadn't crossed my mind but like I said before, I couldn't let him hurt these people, not in good conscience.

Scorn brought his sword right up to my throat, "You'd have to wake up very early to sneak past my keen hearing child…" He snarled, backing me up against a bookshelf, "Maybe you should be my first victim?" He said before he suddenly began to sniff the air.

He kept sniffing at me, slowly bringing his face down to my wrist, "Unless..." He said before he gained a toothy, wicked smirk, "What have we here?" He said, before suddenly grabbing my arm, pinning it to the bookshelf, it was of course the arm I had my morpher on, he even pulled my sleeve down to reveal it. "My my, the plot thickens… yellow ranger," He said.

I just stood there, frozen, terrified, I didn't even know if this would count as me breaking the rules of never revealing my identity or not. "Where you trying to sneak away to morph little ranger? Or where you trying to run like the coward you are… because you **know** you can't beat me in a straight fight… yes that must be it… I frighten you… don't I Power Ranger?" He snarled.

Everyone else in the Library ran out the door so fast I doubt any of them heard Scorn (thank god!) But this helped me little, he had me snared like a mouse in the paw of a cat, helpless and waiting for the predator to just end it already. I couldn't morph with my arm pinned like this, "You have nothing to day in your defense Yellow Ranger? Or are you simply too frightened to even speak? I honestly wouldn't blame you child, I am among the most feared warriors in the Dragon Realms," Said Scorn before he suddenly punched me right in the gut, the force of the blow sending me to my knees, ironically finally being freed from his grip, but yet too rocked by the punch to do little else then huddle over in pain, "I always knew you were the weakest of the Power Rangers Yellow Ranger, the way you carried yourself during our first encounter, unsure and hesitant, all that power wasted on a coward! I would have figured the Purple Dragon of Legend would pick better champions, but then again, he is a naive old fool," Scorn mocked.

He then put his foot on my back, "Normally I would let you morph so we can have a proper battle, but you four **humiliated** me during our first encounter! Made me look like a **fool!** Scorn! Proud wolf warrior and head of the Order of Malefor! Bested by mere CHILDREN!" He yelled, applying pressure to my back. "But that ends today, starting with the weakest link, the sniveling coward who lucked into a spirit gem! The crying pup who had no **right** to even challenge me!" He growled.

I needed to fight back, but I couldn't, he was right, I **was** a coward! I didn't deserve to be a Power Ranger! I never did! I wasn't a hero, just a wimpy girl who just happened to be in the spot where the other rangers were chosen. I doubt Spyro even really chose me, I just happened to be with Dean, Kevin, and Dylan when he summoned them, an unwanted fourth ranger. Maybe this was my ultimate destiny? To die right here and now, as worthless as I had always been…

" _Jessica that isn't true!_ " Volteer objected, " _Every Ranger was chosen carefully, you are strong! You just need to learn to fight back, stand up for yourself Jessica, your world needs you!_ " He pleaded with me. I could sense desperation in his voice, " _Don't give in to despair! I believe in you, you just need to believe in yourself!_ " He said with the same amount of desperation.

As much as I wanted to just give up and accept my fate, Volteer was right in that I needed to at least try, Scorn was going to hurt so many people if I just gave up now! People were counting on me, I lifted my self up, causing Scorn to stumble back, "So… you've decided to fight back after all? Good, I was hoping this would be more interesting," He said.

He didn't wait for me to morph, going right for me, he wasn't using his sword though, instead using surprisingly good martial arts, I couldn't really fight unmorphed, so it wasn't a fair bout to put it nicely, he threw a spinning side kick to my stomach, knocking me over. He wasn't going for the kill though, he just stood there, grinning, waiting for me to get up.

I then realized what was happening, he wanted to savor it, drag it out so he could get some kind of sick thrill from it. I couldn't give him the satisfaction, I tried fighting back, but my lack of martial arts training proved to be a hindrance, as the punch I threw was easily deflected by Scorn, before he grabbed me by the arm and flipped me over his shoulder, causing me to hit the hardwood floor with a thud.

He began to cackle, not unlike a hyena, he was loving this, "How pathetic you are, you can't even fight without morphing, can you child? Me? I have no need for such things, I was bred from birth to be the strongest warrior in the realms! You? You're just a pathetic little girl in way over her head!" Said Scorn.

This was hopeless! I couldn't fight him like this, "Can't we talk about this? Do we really have to kill each other?" I asked, it was insane to try the diplomatic route now, but there was a chance, however slim, that I may be able to talk him out of this.

Scorn's wicked smirk turned into a vicious glare, "No… we cannot, you will die here Yellow Ranger, and nothing can change that," He said, well so much for that.

I slowly got to my feet, I needed to stall him so I could morph. I saw a computer chair not too far from me, I quickly grabbed it and rolled it at Scorn, he was caught off guard and stumbled over it. Not for long, but long enough for me to morph.

" _ **Legendary Dragon! Power of Yellow Electricity!**_ "

Scorn grew angrier as he saw my morphed form, "A deceitful trick indicative of a coward! Very well, if you wish to die in that form, I will gladly oblige!" He snarled before launching another assault, he first threw a series of hard punches, in my Ranger form, I was able to deflect his punches easier, but he still managed to get me with a swift knee to the gut. "Even morphed you are still the weakest Ranger, your strongest fighter couldn't outdo me on his own, what makes you think **you** have a chance?" He snarled.

He was right, Dylan got completely flattened by Scorn when they went one on one, what hope did **I** have? But I couldn't contact them right now, not with Scorn hounding me like he was. He was very mindful not to go too long without throwing more attacks, never allowing me time to contact the other rangers for backup. He may be an evil dog man, but he was also quite intelligent, he was doing everything he could to keep the advantage in his favor.

I threw a high kick, aimed right at his temple, but he blocked it with his forearm. He then answered back with a palm strike to the abdomen, causing me to stumble back. I went back on the offensive, throwing more punches, I managed to score a hook to the jaw, but I got greedy and tried to catch him with another hook but he caught my fist in my palm, he then pulled me arm towards him, before elbowing me in the head, the helmet caught most of the force, but I was still knocked off my feet and onto the floor.

He quickly placed his foot on my throat, "Face it child! You're outmatched and outclassed!" He said before drawing his sword, "As much fun as it is to knock you around, I tire of your pathetic attempts at resistance, it's time you die..." He said before raising his sword high, intent on stabbing me right through the chest.

I was in full blown panic mode right now, I wasn't strong enough to fight Scorn! And now he was going to **kill** me! I can't believe this is how it ends, what could I do? I was powerless against him! Unless…

Thinking quickly, I grabbed him by the leg, "What are you doing you-" He began before I send a thousand volts right through his body, he yelped in both surprise and agony as he tried to wrench his leg free, eventually I let go, causing him to stumble backwards. "You little rat!" He barked, "That actually **hurt**! You will pay **dearly** for that little stunt yellow ranger!" He growled.

I then realized something about Scorn, the way he carried himself, the language he used when describing himself or me, his anger towards me electrocuting him. He was prideful, egotistical, he thought of himself as this great warrior unmatched by anyone. I could use that against him! "You call yourself a great warrior Scorn, but yet you allowed a "sniveling coward" like me to get the best of you?" I taunted him.

It worked like a charm, "You DARE question my strength?! My HONOR?!" He howled in anger, he then began to take wild swings with his sword, I summoned my Daggers of Lightening, deflecting the blade before taking two swipes at his abdomen with the daggers, both landing.

It was working! He was slipping, too blinded by his own anger and pride to fight effectively, his sword swings were getting sloppier with every enraged swing, and I made him pay for missing each time with either a kick to the head, or a slice with my daggers. I finally managed to get him with a hard roundhouse kick, sending him twirling through the air like a drunken gymnast before hitting the floor with a thud. He was too injured to even stand, "How? How is this possible? You're WEAK!" He said in disbelief.

I couldn't help but smirk from under my helmet, after all the times I had found myself the victim of someone else, it was nice to be the one standing for once, "You may be stronger than me, but I'm smarter, the second I questioned your strength and you lost your temper, you lost the fight, not bad for a "coward" huh?" I said, mockingly twirling my daggers in my hands.

Suddenly three figures entered the library, it was the other rangers, already morpherd, I guess Spyro somehow found out I was being attacked and sent the others to help, they all stopped dead though when they saw me standing over an injured Scorn, "Holy crap Jess, you beat Scorn? By yourself?!" Kevin said in shock.

Dean put a hand on my shoulder, "Way to go girl!" He said.

The other Rangers soon began to congratulate me, however, "Don't start celebrating yet Power Rangers!" growled Scorn, before producing a vial of some kind, I recognized it as the growth potion he had used in our first fight with him.

Inevitable happened, as he smashed it on his feet, causing him to grow, completely obliterating the library's roof in the process. The other rangers and I all ran outside to see the titanic Scorn, before having to dodge an attempt by him to squish us like bugs, "We need Dragon Zord power NOW!" Dylan said.

The Dragon Zords soon came flying in, instantly forming the Mega Zord upon landing, the four of us leaped into the giant robot, taking our seats inside to begin the fight again. "Alright Power Rangers! Lets send this mutt back to the pound!" Dylan said.

Scorn sized up the Mega Zord, "You caught me off guard with this thing last time Power Rangers, but this time will end far differently!" He snarled, before slashing the Mega Zord with his sword, causing the whole thing to shake violently, I almost fell right out of my chair! But we recovered soon enough.

The Mega Zord went for a huge right hook, but Scorn deflected it, answering with an elbow to the mid section, causing the giant robot to stumble back, but thankfully we managed to catch ourselves before the Mega Zord accidentally squished what remained of our school.

Kevin slammed his fist against the control panel, "Crap! How do we beat this guy?" He said in frustration.

I remembered what I learned during my fight with Scorn earlier, "Scorn lost his edge when I insulted his strength, we pick at his pride, and he'll get sloppy!" I suggested. Scorn was tough to beat normally, but rattled, he fell over like a house of cards.

Dylan agreed, "Right! Hey Scorn!" He said over the Mega Zord's comms, "I expected a "great warrior" to hit a lot harder than that!" He said.

It instantly worked again, as I saw Scorn's face contort into pure rage, "I have had **enough** of you Power Rangers humiliating me! I am the Dragon Realm's greatest warrior! I will not be mocked by mere pups in tights!" He growled before taking wild swings at the Mega Zord, the first one connected, but the second was deflected by the Mega Zord's arm, and answered with a punch to Scorn's nose, causing him to stagger backwards.

Dylan clenched his fist, "Face it Scorn, you're just a second rate lapdog! That's all you'll **ever** be!" He said before moving a lever, "It's time for you to have a little taste of the Legendary Dragon Mega Sword!" He said, summoning the giant sword from the sky, the Zord taking it from it's place.

Before Scorn even knew what was happening, the giant blade came down, catching him right across the torso. He rolled backwards, before taking out another vial, "You'll pay for this Power Rangers! You have no clue the storm your little town will soon face!" He said before smashing it to the ground, vanishing into the fog just like last time.

Dylan clenched his fist, "And we'll be waiting," He said, to say I felt proud of myself would be an understatement, Volteer was right after all, I **wasn't** worthless, I didn't need to be the strongest, my intelligence won this fight. I just needed to have a bit of faith in myself.

* * *

 _ **Later that Day…**_

* * *

No surprise that the rest of the school day was canceled after the giant robot fight, and huge hole in the library ceiling. I was getting my stuff out of my locker as everyone got ready to head home, however…

"Well well if it isn't the band geek,"

I turned to see Veronica and her friends standing behind me, she had some kind of latte in her hand, "I heard a giant monster attacked your study hall today, I guess even the evil monsters can't stand your ratty hair!" She said before sounding with her signature cackle.

I said nothing, instead snatching her latte right out of her hands and pouring it right on her head, "Still better than yours though, it's a bit wet I hear," I said, Veronica looked mortified, waving her hands around like her hair was on fire.

She violently turned to her friends, "OMG! That bitch dumped my latte all over my hair and new top! You stooges get me a towel NOW!" She whined. With that, the wicked witch and her flying monkeys walked off to clean the mess I had made all over her.

I heard laughing, I turned to see my friends approach, "Dude, that was amazing! The look on her face was priceless!" Laughed Kevin.

I laughed, "I guess I learned to finally stand up for myself," I said proudly, my fight with Scorn had taught me just how much I needed to learn to stick up for myself, and not listen to the cruel words of others so much.

We all had a good laugh before leaving the school, another day won, and two enemies humbled…

* * *

 **A/N: Well I think Veronica's going to think twice about messing with Jess again, but Malefor's next attack still looms over the city of New Harmony, will our heroes be ready to meet the call to arms? Because I doubt spilling a latte on Malefor's head will be nearly as effective…**


	6. No Man's an Island

**Chapter 5: No Man's an Island**

* * *

 _ **Malefor's Castle…**_

* * *

Ugh… I can't believe how quickly that turned around, I once again underestimated the Power Rangers, I got careless, and let their words get to me. Malefor and Rikor were still not back yet, meaning I had time for another attempt before they returned. My body ached from head to toe, I'd need healing magic before I dared to try again. The remaining followers all huddled around me, "Scorn? Are you alright?" one of them asked.

They helped me to a chair, "I'll be fine, the Power Rangers got the better of me, overwhelmed me, it won't happen again," I growled. "In the meantime, we need to think of a new strategy, these children are stronger than they appear," I added.

"Master Scorn, if I may,"

One follower stepped forward, her face was hidden by the hood of her robe but I knew who it was regardless, it was Bianca, a mage apprentice sent to me from her mentor, she was young but skilled, although a bit too soft hearted for my liking, "Perhaps I could try? I believe I'm skilled enough to defeat the Power Rangers," She suggested.

At first I wanted to lash out at her for daring to suggest she could do what I couldn't, the Power Rangers were **my** foe to dispatch, but yet, the strategist in me was telling me to accept her offer, whether I wished to admit it or not, the Power Rangers were beginning to learn my fighting strategy, my weaknesses, if I kept throwing myself at them they'd learn me inside and out.

However, they had never encountered Bianca before, and I personally have seen her combat skill first hand, she could in theory take on the Power Rangers, and I needed time to heal regardless. "Very well, you may try your hand at the Rangers, but do **not** take them lightly, I've made that mistake twice now. Make preparations, you leave for the Human Realms first thing tomorrow," I said.

Bianca bowed her head and left to do as I ordered, I wanted at least one of the Power Rangers dead before we began Malefor's attack on their city, if anything just to show I was still perfectly capable as the head of this order…

* * *

 _ **The Next Day…**_

 _ **Grey Park, New Harmony…**_

* * *

School had been canceled for the day due to all the damage done to the school when Scorn tried to off Jess at the Library, so with no school and nothing else to do, I decided to work on my cardio and get a jog in, since school was out, so was team practice, and I needed to keep my game up in spite of the cancellation. I also needed to keep myself in shape for my duties as a Power Ranger, being one of the last line of defenses against Malefor and his monsters, I needed to be at my absolute best, the world depended on me, I couldn't afford to slack off.

There isn't going to be any doubt that the Green Ranger can pick up the slack, I was going to put my all into it like everything else I did, my grades were good, I was a star on the football team, I couldn't afford to be anything less than the best. " _Be careful Dean, you mustn't push yourself too hard, even the mightiest warriors need a rest every now and then_ ," Terrador said.

I knew that man, I've made that mistake before and wound up costing the team a game because I was too exhausted to play, but I still wanted myself in top shape, I wasn't going to be outlasted by one of Malefor's goons, " _I admire your dedication Dean, but don't forget you are part of a team, you don't have to carry the world on your shoulders alone,_ " Terrador said.

I began to ascend a staircase, I could feel the cold sweat beginning to form, my muscles beginning to stiffen from the running, but I made it up the stairs regardless, that would do for now, I unscrewed the cap to my water bottle and took a nice big swig of water to cool myself down and hydrate myself.

How long had I been going for? I didn't care, I felt like I'd ran enough, so I sat on a park bench to take a little break. I still wanted to hit the gym later and work on my strength, make sure that when I hit, I hit **hard**.

However, suddenly I heard a scream from behind me, I turned to see people fleeing from someone in a dark robe, their hand glowing with some kind of energy, I got up from the bench, this had to be one of Malefor's stooges, the figure stopped right in front of me, "Well well, the Green Ranger, I've been looking for you," The figure said, the voice clearly female, but more worrying was she knew I was the Green Ranger, how? I had no clue, "Surprised I knew who you were? It wasn't hard after learning who the Yellow Ranger was, you four are practically glued to each other's side, that and I can see your morpher," She explained as if she had read my mind.

I wasn't going to waste time with this fool, time to put my work out to the test, I quickly went for a right hook, however the hooded woman dodged the punch and threw one of her own, catching me in the chin with an uppercut. I staggered back, before doing a flip over the park bench to avoid an axe kick from her. I quickly did a vaulting kick over the bench, tagging her right in the dome, she fell over, but rolled herself right to her feet again, her hood falling down allowing me to see her face, and she was… a rabbit?

Yeah, she was a straight up bunny, she had a tuft of blonde hair that hung in her face, and her long ears were done up like a pony tail, I was seriously in a fight with a rabbit right now, I needed a moment to let that sink in.

However I may have taken too long as she did some kind of handspring kick knocking me over, I quickly got up, only to receive a roundhouse kick to the face, knocking me back down. I was seriously getting my ass kicked by a bunny, man is that embarrassing. "I don't see why Scorn had such trouble with you, your fighting skills are mediocre at best," the rabbit said.

I quickly rolled back and to my feet, "Then let's step it up a bit!" I said before going into my morphing pose, " _ **Legendary Dragon! Power of Green Earth!**_ " I said before morphing into the Green Ranger, I felt the surge of energy that usually came with morphing, "Now it's a party!" I said before jumping into the air, coming down with a dropkick.

However, oddly, she blocked it, causing me to fall over, I got up and threw a punch, blocked, a kick, deflected, another kick, caught, allowing her to throw me into a nearby tree. "Nice suit, too bad it doesn't make you a better fighter," She taunted me.

I couldn't believe this, she was straight up schooling me! Even morphed I couldn't take her! What am I doing wrong? I must not be trying hard enough! I threw a high kick, she ducked it and hit me with a spinning back elbow, man she was good, she fought with grace, effortlessly moving around my attacks and in the same motion, countering.

Time to start using my element, I tried to trap her legs in rock, but she leaped out of the way, right over my head, hitting me with some kind of magical blast right in the back. I dragged my leg through the ground, coming up with a rock covered roundhouse, but again she dodged, this time rolling out of the way and answering with another magical blast. I was on the ground again, my body starting to give out.

I tried my best to get back to my feet, my body was getting weaker from the abuse, man I can't believe I'm letting this overgrown bunny play me like this, "You're a stubborn one aren't you?" said the rabbit before knocking me right back over with a roundhouse kick, "But you're already starting to get weaker, it's only a matter of time before you stop being able to fight back at all," she added.

"A shame he's not alone!"

Suddenly the other rangers showed up, already morphed, Jess quickly helped me up, "Dean? You okay?" She asked me, my body felt like it just went ten rounds with Mike Tyson, I'd been hurt worse playing football, but that didn't make it any more pleasant.

Dylan and Kevin made sure to keep themselves between us and the rabbit, Kevin sort of tilted his head, "Wait… is that a rabbit?" He asked, "Dean got beat up by a bunny? Oh my god," Kevin said, fighting off giggles.

The rabbit rolled her eyes before springboard kicking both him and Dylan, knocking them both over, "Is it still funny human?" she asked, clearly not taking kindly to Kevin laughing at her expense.

Dylan was to retaliate, trying to get her with a sweep which she easily jumped over, coming down with a spinning kick to the Dylan's head. Kevin rushed in, throwing three punches, all blocked by the rabbit. She answered back with a monster uppercut, lifting Kevin off his feat from the force.

Jess tried to jump in, throwing a few punches of her own, which the rabbit also blocked before taking her to the ground with a judo flip. "Is this seriously the best you've got? How you four were able to best Scorn I'll never know," the rabbit said.

We all got up, standing together in a line, "You haven't won yet!" Dylan said defiantly, he then summoned his sword and began to swing, she effortlessly dodged each swing, she then held her hand out and chanted something I couldn't quite make out, before Dylan's sword came flying out of his hands, she then threw some kind of magical blast causing Dylan to erupt into a burst of sparks, knocking him to the ground.

The rabbit then knelt down next to the downed red ranger, "You wield that sword like a child, do you have **any** training? Or did the Purple Dragon just pluck you off the street and give you a morpher?" She asked him, Dylan only responded with a frustrated growl. Despite being evil, she had a point, Spyro never really **did** train us… like at all, no wonder we were getting flattened!

The rabbit then grabbed Dylan by the throat and tossed him back to us, "As fun as this is, Master Scorn was very specific with what he wanted me to do, I detest killing, but you four are in the way, and must be dealt with," She said, she then began to charge a magical attack.

Man! Look at the size of that thing! No doubt that would wipe us all out if it hit, and we were too banged up to even dodge it! She was straight up going to kill us, man I never thought **this** was how my life was going to end, at the hands of a magical kung fu rabbit!

However, before she could connect, everything went white, and we suddenly found ourselves in the Dragon Temple again. All of us were confused, unsure what had just happened. We all slowly got to our feet, removing our helmets as we approached that pool thing in the center of the room.

We found Spyro there, his head hung low, eyes shut tightly, I could see he was breathing heavily, as if he had been really freaked out about something. "Spyro? You okay man?" I asked, he seemed startled by the sound of my voice, his purple eyes shooting open and yelping a bit.

He however, quickly regained his composure, "I… I'm fine Dean," He said shakily, "Just… came a little closer to losing you four than I'd like," He added. Wait… was he freaked out because he thought we died?

Kevin then stormed up to us, "The hell man?! We could have taken her! Why'd you pull us out of there like that?!" He yelled, dude she was kicking our asses! Spyro just saved our lives back there!

Spyro just glared at Kevin, I could hear a light growl emanating from his throat, "That spell would have obliterated you four, I just saved your lives Kevin," He growled.

Kevin just rolled his eyes and leaned against a pillar, Jess and Dylan came up to us, Jess supporting Dylan on her shoulder, I just noticed Dylan's suit had a nasty burn mark right on the chest, which he was clutching with his hand, "Spyro, who was that?" Jess asked.

Spyro paused, before he began to explain, "That, was Bianca, a mage apprentice under the command of Scorn and his order," He explained, "I didn't know he'd send her after you four like that, I should have prepared you better," He added.

Kevin once again rolled his eyes, "So we got our butts kicked by a magic nerd in training?" He said with a raised eyebrow.

Spyro shook his head, "She's one of The Sorceress' best students," He explained, of course, none of us knew what that meant exactly, so Spyro felt the need to explain, "The Sorceress was one of the most feared mages in the Dragon Realms, our paths crossed once, a few years before I had decided to seal myself away, she commands powerful magic, and she's both Bianca… and Scorn's master," He explained.

Spyro then began to walk around the pool thing, "I should have trained you four first, but everything had been happening so quickly I hadn't thought to do it," He said more to himself than us.

Dylan groaned, "That's not important right now," He strained, "We need to stop her before she-" He began before Spyro suddenly turned his head towards us, and man was he pissed! He looked like he was about to tear Dylan's head off!

"NO!" He roared, "I almost lost you four today! If you think I'm going to let you go after her again, especially in **your** condition? You're out of your mind!" He snapped. We all sort of froze, surprised by Spyro's sudden outburst over what seemed to be a pretty standard response. Spyro then stopped, taking a deep breath, trying to calm himself down, "I'm sorry, but in your condition you can't go after her, Dylan especially, I want you four to remain here for the day while you recover from your injuries, then we'll discuss stopping Bianca," He said.

None of us really knew how to respond, just sort of standing there, confused, "Jess, come with me, we need to tend of Dylan's injuries before they become infected," He said, Jess nodded, taking Dylan and following Spyro out of the room.

I then heard Kevin growl as he punched the pillar, "Can you believe that? We're under lock down now! How the hell am I going to explain this to my parents or my boss? 'Sorry sir! I can't come into work today because my overprotective dragon mentor got spooked by a rabbit and wants to keep me in his temple all night!' Unbelievable!" He complained before storming off to complain to himself some more.

I kinda got why Kevin was upset, but he was just looking out for us, I was more miffed at myself for letting her get the better of me like that. I was supposed to defend the whole world, but some rabbit got the better of me, completely schooling me like a chump! And now Dylan was hurt because I couldn't step up and take her down! None of this would be happening if I had been able to take her down!

" _Dean I told you before not to carry the world on your shoulders alone, you're a team,_ " Terrador admonished me, " _You simply found an opponent beyond your own skill, it has happened to me several times in my days as it does any warrior,_ _the best thing you can do is learn from it and move on,_ " he added. I sighed, this was going to be a long night.

* * *

 _ **Hours Later…**_

* * *

I had called my parents and told them I was spending the night with friends, not really a **lie** per say, but I still found it hard to be so vague with them, I wish I could just tell them I was a Power Ranger, maybe then Dad would actually be proud of me for once, but knowing him he'd probably tell me I was wasting my potential fighting evil or something. I happened upon Jess, telling her dad the same thing, "No dad it's alright, we're just hanging out for the night… no no it's **nothing** like that I swear," She said.

Jess' dad was a cop, and thus always tried to keep her and her older brother Ryan out of trouble. "No it's just a quiet hang out night nothing bad I swear… yeah I know it just sort of came up unexpectedly, I would have told you ahead of time if I'd known… okay… love you too Dad… bye," She said, she ended the call and let out an exasperated sigh.

I walked up to her, "How are you holding up Jess?" I asked, I'd known Jess since we were little, our dads were old college buddies, thus Jess and I basically grew up together, it wasn't hard for me to tell when something was bothering her, she wasn't exactly good at hiding it.

Jess leaned against the stone wall of the Dragon Temple, sitting herself down, I sat next to her, "It just… bothers me how easily that Bianca woman beat all of us, even Scorn couldn't keep up with all four of us morphed," said Jess.

She wasn't wrong, you'd think a fighter **that** badass would be calling the shots instead of Scorn, but then again, Scorn had an ego, and was easily thrown off his game because of it, Bianca was like if Scorn didn't have that weakness. "She fought like a machine, when we were going one on one, she moved so gracefully, I couldn't keep up, and she overwhelmed me," I said, I hated admitting that, I never liked admitting that someone outlasted me, it's happened to me in games before, some corner back or linebacker who managed to shut me down all game, I never liked it when someone got the better of me, I always felt like I hadn't done enough to keep up.

Jess shook her head, "Poor Dylan got the worst of it though, you should have seen his stomach, it looked like an overcooked steak," she said, and that was probably the worst part of it, I felt like it was my fault that happened to Dylan, he wouldn't have had to step in if I had just kept pace with Bianca.

I buried my face in my hands, "If only I had been able to keep pace with her, you guys wouldn't have had to step in and Dylan wouldn't have gotten hurt," I said more to myself than Jess.

Jess shook her head, "Dean, we all got beat by her, not just you," She said, "You're doing it again Dean, I've told you before, no man's an island, what happened to Dylan wasn't your fault," She said.

Jess and I have had this conversation before, a million times actually, but this was different, I almost got someone, no, **all** of us killed because I couldn't keep up the pace, because **I** fell short! "Jess we almost **died** today! All because I couldn't beat some bunny!" I said, slamming my fist into the wall behind me in anger.

Jess just put a hand on my shoulder, "Dean come on! You can't put that on yourself! We're a team remember! I win or lose **together** ," She said.

I stood up, "She attacked **me** first Jess! If I could have just taken her down then no one else would have gotten involved! How is this not my fault?!" I yelled, I know she was just trying to help, but I just couldn't share the blame for this! This loss was on **me** , I needed to be a man and accept responsibility for my own mistakes.

Jess stood up, "I should go check on Dylan, try not to tear yourself apart while I'm gone okay?" She said before leaving, I knew that wasn't the reason she wanted to leave, she figured she needed to let me sort things out on my own. But my point did remain, I needed to be a man and accept when I screwed up, and I have.

I decided to walk around, in the few times I'd ever been here I've never actually explored the temple before. It was kinda dark and foreboding in a way, empty and almost lifeless, but it also seemed to go on forever, I eventually found a room with a giant dragon statue in the center, it seemed oddly large for the room, it was of a dragon I didn't recognize, I had a vague idea of what the guardians looked like from our helmet designs and zords, this dragon had three large horns, the two on the side curving upwards, and one on the base of his skull that just shot up. The statue had some kind of light at the center of it's chest, almost like it was wearing a pendent.

"Malefor,"

I turned to see Spyro had happened upon me, "That's who that statue is of, Malefor before he became corrupted," He clarified. Spyro sat himself next to me, even sitting down the purple dragon still towered over me.

I looked to the statue and back to Spyro, "Why is it here then? Seems kinda odd to have a statue of the bad guy in your temple," I asked, it just seemed a bit… silly to me, having a statue of the villain staring down at me in what was supposed to be our home base.

Spyro sort of chuckled to himself, "It was in the original Dragon Temple, I wanted the temple to be just like the one I trained in, every detail the same, I had expected to be in hibernation far longer than I was, and wanted to at least have **one** thing familiar to me when I woke up," He explained, it made a weird sort of sense, if I had been sealed away for years, I'd want something resembling home to be there too.

Spyro then turned to me, "Jess told me about your conversation earlier," He said, aw man here it comes, I should have known Jess would tell Spyro.

I shook my head, taking a few steps forward, "I don't need a lecture, I have to be a man and accept my mistakes," I said simply, hoping that would be enough for him.

However, Spyro simply sighed, "I used to think like that too, that every defeat was my fault and that I was supposed to be the great hero that could never fail, being the Purple Dragon, you can't help but feel that way in fairness, but every time I messed up I felt like I was letting the whole world down," Said Spyro.

I turned in his direction, "What changed?" I asked.

Spyro sighed, "I had a friend there to tell me different, that I would always have someone there to help me and that I wasn't alone, that I'd **never** be alone, that any burden I had would be shared with her and every other friend I had. So that's what I wanted to tell you, there's a reason I picked **four** of you and not one, the fate of the world is a heavy burden to carry by yourself Dean, trust me I know," He said, approaching me and putting his paw on my shoulder, "You're a good ranger Dean, but even the most powerful heroes need to remember that they aren't alone in the fight, you have three other rangers with you, ready to help you out whenever you need it," He explained.

I shook my head, "I just… I felt like I let everyone down, and Dylan, he only got hurt because I couldn't beat Bianca," I said, I could feel tears forming in my eyes, I knew what Spyro was saying was probably true, but I couldn't just pretend like I couldn't have prevented what happened.

Spyro shook his head, "You didn't let anyone down Dean, not me at least, you're all still new at this and if anything it's my fault for not training you guys properly, given the circumstances you four have done exceptionally well," He said, he sounded just like a parent trying to boost their kid's confidence, but something about the way he spoke also seemed quite genuine, he clearly meant what he was saying.

But it was hard for me to go against how I'd thought and felt my entire life, that I needed to push myself to be the very best I could be, and if I failed, it was because I didn't work hard enough. "My dad is part of why I'm like this, he always thought I was wasting my potential playing football instead of going into computer science like him," I began, I don't know why I suddenly felt the need to tell him this, but I guess I figured it would give him more context. "Nothing I've ever done was good enough for him, I guess that's why I'm so hard on myself… because I'm just so used to people thinking I'm not good enough..." I said.

Spyro shook his head again, "I don't think that Dean," He said, "Like I said, you're a fine Ranger, I wouldn't have chosen you if I'd thought different, never forget that okay?" he asked me.

Suddenly Kevin came running into the room, "Spyro! You might want to see that… pool thing you have… something's going down in the city!" He said, slightly panicked.

Spyro and I looked at each other, but followed Kevin into the main room, Jess and Dylan were both there already, Dylan still kinda messed up, Spyro approached the pool and studied it, it was then I saw an image form in the water, we saw Bianca terrorizing a shopping mall, blowing up stands with magic blasts.

Dylan stepped forward, still clutching his abdomen, "We have to get down there! She's going to hurt someone!" He said.

Spyro gave Dylan the same look he had the last time Dylan suggested going after her, "No! You're still injured, I'm not risking your lives!" He growled.

However, "Then the rest of us will go, we can't just stand here and let her kill innocent people!" I objected, the look on Spyro's face told me he wasn't going to comply, that he wasn't budging on this at all, "Please Spyro, I know I can do this…" I said.

Spyro thought it over, before reluctantly… "Fine, you, Jess, and Kevin go down there, Dylan you need to keep resting, you're not ready for combat yet," He said, Dylan of course wasn't too thrilled about being benched, but with that injury he was in no shape to fight.

The three of us stepped forward, morphers ready….

" _ **Legendary Dragon! Power of Green Earth!**_ "

" _ **Legendary Dragon! Power of Blue Ice!"**_

" _ **Legendary Dragon! Power of Yellow Electricity!"**_

We were all then teleported to the town mall for our rematch with Bianca, we appeared right behind her, she instantly noticed us, "I was wondering how many merchant stands I would have to knock down to get your attention Power Rangers," she said before noticing something, "You seem to be a ranger short, where's your leader?" she inquired.

I stepped forward, fist clenched, "We don't need him to take out a sorry excuse for a lacky like you!" I said, causing Bianca to simply laugh, before she quickly went on the offensive, throwing a kick right to my head, causing me to stumble right into the arms of Jess and Kevin.

Jess looked to me, "You really think we can take her without Dylan? I mean, she beat us pretty soundly even **with** Dylan!" She asked me.

At first, I thought she had a point, we were pretty hopeless here a man short, but then I began to recall what Spyro had told me before, that I was a part of a team, and how I needed to realize that. "Maybe, but if we work together, she can't take us," I said.

Kevin and Jess seemed to understand what I meant, as all three of us launched ourselves at her, I began to throw a few punches, she dodged them just like last time, but Kevin launched himself off my shoulders, coming down with an ax kick catching her right on the head, Jess then came in from behind with a spin kick of her own, knocking the rabbit to the ground.

Bianca then unleashed a magic burst that knocked all of us back, "You think ganging up on me is going to change anything? You can't win! Even if you beat me today, Scorn will win the war! It's inevitable!" She yelled.

I drew my Ax of Earth, "I don't think so," I said, "Every time Scorn and his goons throw themselves at our world, we Power Rangers will always be there to stop him! Together!" I declared as I began to do a circular motion with my ax, " _ **Earth Ax! ROCK SLIDE!**_ " I called, swinging my ax, striking the ground. A trail of rock raced towards Bianca, hitting her like a rock solid tidal wave, sending her to the ground. She struggled to get up, too beaten to even stand. "It's over Bianca, you've lost!" I said rather triumphantly.

Bianca growled, "This isn't over Power Rangers! Not by a long shot!" She said before creating a portal and escaping through it, Kevin tried to give chase but the portal closed before he could even reach it.

Kevin growled, "Dammit! She got away!" he cursed.

I knew she'd be back, but for now, we won. Spyro was right, I needed to start looking at this group as a team instead of just myself, four equal parts of the same machine, working in tandem to protect the world from destruction.

* * *

 _ **Meanwhile…**_

 _ **Malefor's Castle…**_

* * *

Bianca had failed, overwhelmed by those infernal Power Rangers! How can a group of mere man pups be so difficult to kill?! It seemed no matter what, they always managed to find a way to turn things around and win.

Bianca appeared from the portal she had escaped into, "Master Scorn! I'm sorry, I failed," She said, disappointment clear in her voice.

I went to admonish her for her failure, however, "It matters not rabbit," boomed a voice from the darkness, suddenly Lord Malefor appeared from the shadows, with a horde of elemental golems behind him, "Let the Power Rangers enjoy their final victory… before the end of everything they know and love," He said with a sinister smirk.

Malefor then walked over to the viewing globe, "Prepare the troops, by dawn tomorrow, New Harmony burns to cinder, and the Power Rangers breathe their last breaths," He growled… It was indeed time, for the Power Rangers to end once and for all!

* * *

 **A/N: Dun dun duuuh, it seems that Malefor's ready for a full scale assault on New Harmony! Will our plucky young heroes be able to save New Harmony? Or will Malefor destroy everything they've ever loved? Stay tuned!**

 **I'm sorry this chapter took so long to put out, but I got busy playing Chroma Squad and time just sort of slipped away from me. Hopefully it won't happen again, knock on wood.**


	7. Wrath of the Dark Master Part 1

**Chapter 6: Wrath of the Dark Master Part 1**

* * *

Despite defeating Bianca, Spyro still insisted on keeping us at his place for the night, I'd been noticing that Spyro had been acting weirdly since we first fought Bianca, like he was terrified to let us out of his sight, especially me with my injury. I still hated the fact that he benched me for that fight, I mean, it's cool Dean and the others managed to beat her back to whatever hole Malefor's cronies crawl out of, but I still felt like I was being left out.

After that, Spyro had made his point, rather forcefully I might add, that we stay at the temple, claiming he didn't want to risk me getting jumped by Malefor's forces while I was injured. This didn't explain why everyone **else** had to stay, but would **you** want to argue with the ten foot tall purple dragon of death? I didn't think so.

My injury wasn't even really that bad, it hurt yes but I've hurt worse in my time and I was perfectly capable of walking on my own power now, but Spyro still insisted I rest, getting **very** uppity with me when ever he caught me out of bed. God if I wanted to be babied like this I would have gone home to mom. Oh! That's right! I **can't** thanks to mommy dragon here!

So I just laid there in bed, bored out of my mind, I tried using my phone to occupy myself, but obviously, the Dragon Temple doesn't have WiFi, to be honest I'd have been quite surprised if it did. God this was like my own personal hell, all it needed was the song from the "It's a small world" ride and it would be my perfect hell… ugh.

Suddenly I heard a light knock on the doorway, seeing Kevin enter the room, "Hey dude, how are you holding up?" He asked me, sitting on the bed next to me.

I sighed, "Miserably, I hate laying in bed all day, but mommy Spyro won't let me out of it until god knows when," I said, I wasn't hiding my annoyance with our purple lizard mentor, what was his damage anyway?

Kevin sounded with a light chuckle, "You never liked staying put, I remember you used to drive your mom crazy with how much energy you had when we were little kids," he laughed.

I looked to the doorway, making sure Spyro wasn't within earshot, "You notice how weird he's acting lately? Spyro I mean, it's like the dude is terrified to let us out of his sight all of a sudden," I asked Kevin.

Kevin blinked, clearly he hadn't really given it that much thought as he seemed surprised I even asked. "Not really, too busy worrying if I'd still have a job after tomorrow," He said.

Kevin was the only one of the group with a job, and it wasn't really a glorious one to put it lightly, he worked the register at a McDonalds. It was kinda funny now that we were Power Rangers, the great Blue Ice Ranger was also serving you Big Macs and making minimum wage while doing it. Kevin hated his job, but needed it because he wanted to be able to move out of his parent's place once he graduated, so he was saving up for an apartment.

But on to more pressing matters, "Dude's been babying me since we got here, I swear he's worse than my mother," I commented.

I then heard someone clearing their throat, it seems that Spyro had somehow managed to slip into the room without me noticing, which mean he had **just** heard that 'worse than my mother' comment. Oh joy… "I'm sorry that you feel that way Dylan, but I prefer to keep my allies **alive** ," he said rather bitterly.

Neither of us dared speak another word, terrified we'd incur the wrath of the purple dragon of legend, preferring to keep our dumb mouths shut, "Look, I get that you don't like spending the night here or me keeping you in bed," Spyro began, "But Malefor is beginning to step up his game, and I don't want to risk your lives anymore than I have to," He explained.

If he was so worried about us, then why make us Power Rangers in the first place? Doesn't that typically **come** with putting yourself in danger? This explanation of his did little to satisfy my confusion, something about the way he was carrying himself told me he wasn't being one hundred percent honest with us, like there was something he was intentionally leaving out for god knows what reason.

This could have just been due to how frustrated I was with him right now, I never liked being babied, it made me feel like I was helpless and weak, neither of which I enjoyed feeling since I was ten. I rolled over so my back was facing the dragon, "Dylan come on! Don't be like that!" Spyro chastised me, but I didn't care, I was so done with this whole 'injured ranger' nonsense, I was doing much better, especially after Spyro had healed me with his mystical gem things. But he was treating me like I was missing limbs!

" _Dylan you mustn't be angry with Spyro,_ " Ingitus began, I don't want to hear from the peanut gallery right now! " _Spyro has gone through many struggles in his life, I do not blame him for being protective of his rangers,_ " he continued regardless, "Dylan I'm doing this for your own good!" Spyro said.

I growled, turning to face the irritating dragon, "I don't need a goddamn nanny! You **and** Ignitus do nothing but nag me and treat me like a little kid! I can take care of myself!" I yelled, I was at my wits end right now, I had **two** dragons nagging me like fussy parents!

Spyro however, instead of look hurt or angry, seemed confused, "I… Ignitus?" he questioned, "Dylan, h… how do you know that name?" He asked again, this was a very odd reaction coming from the guy who helped make the thing that put Ignitus into my head in the first place.

However, Ignitus decided to clarify, " _Dylan, I told you before Spyro probably didn't know we were in the morphers,"_ He explained, that… actually made sense, he was confused because he didn't know Ignitus was in my head, we never really did get he chance to tell Spyro about that did we?

Kevin and I looked at each other, silently debating which one of us should explain this to Spyro, in the end, Kevin decided to explain it, "You see Spyro… when you made the morphers using your mentor's uh… spirit stuff… their… restless souls kinda became part of the deal… and well… they kinda talk in our heads… which come to think of it sounds a lot worse than it actually is-" Kevin began to ramble before Spyro held his paw up to signify he wanted him to stop.

Spyro stayed silent for a brief, awkward moment, I guess the idea of trapping the souls of his mentors and possibly even father figures in the heads of a bunch of dumb teenage humans was hitting him pretty hard, but it was hard to tell given the flat, unreadable expression on his face. "He told me it wouldn't happen!" Spyro said to himself, "He said it would just give you their power! He lied to me!" He growled, it was then Kevin and I started to notice his scales growing darker. At first I thought it was just the my eyes playing tricks on me, but that went right out the window when his scales had become jet black, and his eyes a pure, milky white, " **HE** **LIED TO ME!** " He roared in a slightly distorted voice, he then violently jerked his head in our direction, "WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME?!" He roared.

Kevin and I both back up into a corner, not sure what the hell was even happening right now, Spyro seemed downright insane with anger, making it quite possible he could try to kill us. "Kevin what do we do?" I asked, Kevin's only answer was a panicked shrug and shaking of his head, telling me he had no clue.

" _Dylan, I want you to morph,_ " Ignitus said, wait… you want me to what? Didn't Spyro say I could only do that when Malefor forces me to? " _Trust me,"_ Ignitus reassured me, out of options and not wanting to die at the claws of my own mentor, I did as Ignitus asked.

I timidly placed two fingers on the gem of my morpher, **"** _ **Legendary Dragon! Power of Red Fire!**_ " I called, activating my morpher and confusing the hell out of Kevin.

However, after I had finished morphing, I… couldn't move, I tried to move my arms but they wouldn't respond, I tried to speak but nothing came forth, what the hell was going on? "Spyro! Stop!" Ignitus suddenly said, but something was off, it didn't have that echo like sound that it usually did, and I felt my mouth move with his words.

Wait a minute… dude was controlling my body wasn't he?! Knowing he could do that now made my skin crawl, "Calm yourself! Before you do something you'll regret!" Ignitus said, I can tell you right now, having someone else controlling your body was a surreal and terrifying experience, it was like I was a marionette, being controlled by some unseen puppeteer.

Spyro however, faltered a bit, his white eyes losing some of their agression, "I… Ignitus?" He stammered, I could see his eyes beginning to water slightly, as if he hadn't heard from Ignitus in so long, "I'm sorry! I… I didn't mean to trap your soul like that! I… I was just trying to protect the world… I… I," He continued to fumble, I could see his scales starting to brighten a bit, and coloration beginning to appear in his eyes.

Ignitus shook my head, "Spyro it's alright, I understand why you did what you did, and I hold no ill will towards you for it," He explained, god this was so wrong having him puppeteer my body like this like some twisted Jim Henson! I mean, it was working sure but that didn't make it any more pleasant! "To be honest with you, I've been quite fine in young Dylan's subconcious, even if he is currently panicking right now," He chuckled, oh har har! You're possessing my body dude! I think I have the right to panic! "I have accepted my role as Dylan's guide and mentor, as I did you all those years ago, you did me nor the other guardians any harm," He reassured Spyro.

Kevin meanwhile was quite freaked out to say the least, "Whoa whoa whoa! Time out! Are we just going to ignore the fact you're possessing my friend right now?! When the hell could you do that?!" Kevin asked, one could argue this wasn't the time for this, but he kinda had a point here.

I felt a smile force it's way across my lips, "I could have done it at any time actually, but chose not to until I found it necessary, I'm sure Cyril thinks similarly," He said, this caused Kevin to turn pale as a ghost, knowing that the ice guardian could hijack his body at any moment. "Do not worry Kevin, we can only take control when you are morphed," He added, but that didn't help Kevin much at all really.

Spyro meanwhile, had completely shifted back to normal, "Ignitus… I..." He said, choking up a bit.

"There's no need to say anything more Spyro," Ignitus said, "I'm still as proud of how far you've come as I always had been, farewell," He said before demorphing me, the sudden regaining of control over my body took me by surprise and caused my knees to buckle and me to fall right on my rear end. "N… never do that again!" I said to Ignitus, I didn't care if they heard me, that was screwed up!

Spyro took a moment to collect himself, wiping the tears from his eyes, "I… I'm sorry Dylan, Kevin, I shouldn't have snapped at you two like that," He said, neither of us really know how to respond to that given what had just happened.

However, suddenly Jess and Dean came running into the room, "Guys! Something's going on in the… pool… thing..." said Jess.

Spyro shook the shock of all that had just happened before responding, "The Pool of Visions, it's called the Pool of Visions," he clarified, why the hell didn't he tell us that before?! "What did you two see?" He then asked.

Dean shook his head, "See for yourself man," he said, we all then headed for the Pool of Visions, we all gathered around it, at first I didn't see anything, but after a few moments and image began to form within it's murky waters, of an army of Grublins and crystal… monster… things marching through New Harmony, destroying everything in sight.

Spyro began to quiver slightly, "Malefor's escalating his attack!" He said, it was clear Spyro was terrified by what he was seeing, "I never expected him to take things this far so soon," He added.

It was clear what we needed to do now, "We've gotta stop this! There's no way the city can defend itself against Malefor for long," I said.

We all gathered in a circle, I found myself a little hesitant to morph after what Ignitus had just done not too long ago, but I wasn't about to try throwing myself at Malefor's armies unmorphed! "Alright guys, it's morphin' time!" I said.

" _ **Legendary Dragon! Power of Red Fire!**_ "

" _ **Legendary Dragon! Power of Blue Ice!**_ "

" _ **Legendary Dragon! Power of Yellow Electricity!**_ "

" _ **Legendary Dragon! Power of Green Earth!"**_

While we teleported back to the city to confront Malefor and his armies, I noticed that Spyro seemed a bit down, just sadly looking off to the side before we suddenly found ourselves in the city again.

The city was in chaos! Grublins and weird crystal golems were all attacking random people, destroying cars, and generally wrecking everything. "Alright Rangers! Let's put a stop to this little party!" I said before launching myself at a group of Grublins, roundhouse kicking one in the head sending it stumbling back, before deflecting another one's punch catching it in the head with a high kick. I then flipped myself over a newspaper stand, before smacking one right in the dome with a right hook.

Man, you'd think after the thousands of Grublins we'd beaten the crap out of, that Malefor would send something with a bit more… strength after us? But hey, at least it wouldn't be a difficult battle to save the city.

Crap! Spoke too soon, one of those crystal golem things managed to score a direct hit to the dome with it's very hard crystal arms, the blow knocked me right into the newspaper stand. Man that hurt, but I quickly got right back up and threw a high kick right to the head, and regretted it the second my shin made contact, the thing was rock solid, meaning that high kick hurt **me** a lot more than it hurt it. "Crap!" I said as I hopped backwards on my good leg, "Time for a different approach I guess," I added before summoning my sword of flame.

I took a few hard swings, managing to chip the crystal golem a bit, but one solid knock to the dome was enough to knock me right back to the cold, hard, unforgiving concrete. I needed a new game plan here, there had to be a way to take this stupid things down!

I then heard laughter, "Having problems Red Ranger?" I turned to see Scorn and Bianca standing on the roof of a nearby gas station, "Elemental Golem's bodies are notoriously hard, although I'm sure you've figured that out already haven't you Power Ranger?" He laughed, god I hated this mutt, him and his stupid bunny sidekick, "However, there's another thing they're quite good at, I'll give you a hint, there's a reason they're referred to as **elemental** golems," He said.

Before I could even think on what he meant by that, I suddenly noticed the crystal golem began to glow a bright red, as fire began to form in it's hands. Thinking quickly, I rolled myself out of the way before a giant fireball came crashing down on the ground where I once laid.

Great, as if this thing wasn't hard enough to fight already, it could throw fireballs too! "Oh! And I wouldn't use your fire abilities against the thing either Red Ranger!" Scorn said, "It tends to enjoy fire," He added with an ear piercingly annoying laugh.

"Oh yeah? How much does it like ice?"

Suddenly Kevin came flying out of nowhere, coming down with a downward slash, cleaving the thing right in two frozen chunks, "I'll take **that** as a 'not at all'," chuckled Kevin.

Scorn seemed at first stunned, but his furry canine face soon scrunched up in anger, "Fair enough, I was hoping I'd be able to kill you personally anyway Red Ranger," He growled before leaping down in front of me, he instantly went for a high roundhouse kick, which I ducked, but he quickly used his momentum from the kick to power an uppercut that caught me right in the chin, knocking me down.

"Don't forget about me Fido!" Kevin said before swinging his lance at the wolf warrior, Scorn easily dodged each swipe before slashing Kevin right in the chest, sparks erupted from the cut as Kevin fell to the ground.

Scorn quickly put a foot on my throat, "I'm through playing games with you humans! Today, you will all finally die! Four weeds thankfully plucked from the garden of life!" He snarled.

I quickly grabbed my sword, "Fat chance dog breath!" I said before catching him right in the snout with my blade. He recoiled back, clutching his nose in his hand, making some kind of wimpy, whining sound as he did so.

He then lifted his hand to reveal I had made a nice, big, solid cut across his snout, which bled a steady stream of red blood, "You… you little brat! How dare you defile my face!" He whined, dude you're a six foot tall dog man, not like you were much of a looker to begin with! But apparently among other things, Scorn was also quite vain. He the began to bare his sharp white fangs, "You're not the first to scar my face human," he said, pointing to the scar marking his eye, "A cheetah warrior gave me this one years ago, you know what happened to him? I cut him down right in front of his own village! And I do intend to do the same to **you**!" He snarled before launching himself at me.

He caught me with several slashes across the chest, sparks flew as I tried desperately to defend myself, I was still a bit green when it came to sword fighting, and boy was Scorn ever exploiting that. "DIE! Just DIE!" He growled, slashing at me like mad.

I managed to get a good horizontal slash right across his abdomen, sparks flew from him too (somehow) and he stumbled back, clutching his stomach, "Dammit! Not again! You won't defeat me again!" He growled.

"No… he won't"

Everyone suddenly stopped right in their tracks. Rangers, Grublins, golemns, mages, all stood in awe of the new figure that decided to join us.

He was a large, ugly, dark purple dragon, his horns were oddly shaped, forming some kind of odd trident shape, ending in blood red tips. His eyes were pure yellow, save for the reptilian slits that served as his pupils. This dragon had a similar presence to Spyro, only much more sinister, like a demon rose straight from the bowels of hell itself. The dragon landed softly onto the pavement, eyes locked on me. "Because I will deal with these humans myself," He said.

Scorn quickly got on one knee, "Y… Yes Lord Malefor," He stammered.

I felt a pit in my stomach as the identity of this dragon was revealed, **this** was Malefor, the very dragon Spyro had made us Power Rangers in order to stop, I felt myself shaking, knowing how powerful this creature that wanted to fight me really was, Malefor smirked, showing his sharp fangs, "Ah… the mighty Red Ranger, at last we meet face to face," He chuckled, "You and your little friends have become quite the headache for me lately, and I simply cannot allow that to continue," He growled.

I tried my best to hide how intimidated I was, this dragon was so powerful that even Spyro couldn't defeat him completely, what chance did I have? I was still relatively new to this whole Power Ranger thing, Malefor's eyes went wide, a smile creeping across his grotesque face, "What's this now? Is the great leader of the Power Rangers… afraid of me?" He mused, oh god he noticed! "You know it… don't you little boy? Just how in over your head you are… a mere hatchling about to battle with a dragon that even the ancestors themselves cannot kill, make no mistake Red Ranger, you are **right** to fear me…" He growled.

I found myself backing up out of instinct, sword bared, bracing for the worst, "I didn't get to kill your counterpart last time Red Ranger, not directly, but you can be sure this time I plan on killing you myself, and I will bring your head to your beloved mentor, so he can look upon your lifeless eyes in terror before I slay him as well," He said.

Okay, one: ew. Two: This was bad! I wasn't prepared to face off with Malefor yet! How the hell was I going to survive this? Suddenly the others joined my side, "Fat chance Malefor! You can't take us all on!" Dean said, well at least **he** still had his confidence. "Power Rangers fight together! And when we're together, no one can stop us!" He added.

Malefor laughed, a sickening, dry cackle that echoed through the city streets, "You really think that don't you Green Ranger?" He laughed, "Allow me to prove to you, how wrong you really are," he then said much more darkly, before he suddenly launched himself at us.

I barely had time to bring my sword up before Malefor caught me right in the chest with his claws, sparks exploded from my chest as I found myself flipping through the air uncontrollably before hitting the ground with a hard, painful thud. Malefor wasted no movements, quickly smacking Jess back with his tail, while shooting a large rock right in Dean's face.

Kevin tried to slash at him with his lance, but Malefor caught it right in his claws, he used it to toss Kevin through the air, sending him sailing right into a billboard, before he came crashing down onto the concrete like a sack of bricks. "Pathetic! I don't know why, but I expected more of a fight than this," Malefor scoffed.

Dean quickly got up, "We'll never give up! You won't beat us you overgrown lizard!" Dean said in defiance, drawing his ax. Dean dragged it's blade across the ground, sending a wave of rock right at Malefor.

Malefor effortlessly dodged it, before blasting Dean with a volley of sharp rocks, causing an explosion of sparks to knock him right back down. Jess tried to get him from behind with her daggers, but Malefor quickly side stepped her swipe, before zapping her with electric breath. Jess cried out as electricity surged through her body.

"JESS!" I cried out, I couldn't let him do this! Not to my friends! This wasn't just fighting to him, he was toying with us, I could see it in his eyes he was enjoying this! I rushed him, sword bared, ready to cleave him in two.

However, he saw me coming, and I found myself engulfed in a wave of fire, the smell of burning plastic and flesh assaulted my nostrils as my skin screamed in horrible agony, when the flames finally stopped, I found myself falling to my knees before the Dark Master.

Malefor grinned a sadistic grin as I tried desperately to regain my composure, "A rather brash one, aren't we Red Ranger? Honestly what other result did you expect from just blindly running at me like a fool?" he mocked me, before backhanding me right into the waiting arms of my friends. "Your feeble attempts to combat me have been quite amusing Power Rangers, but I'm afraid it is time to end your miserable existences for good," He growled.

I then felt the ground shake under our feet, what the hell was he doing? I looked to Malefor, who had his eyes shut, as if he were meditating, I then noticed a purple energy surging around him, bits of concrete began to lift from the ground around him, floating next to him.

Suddenly everything went white, before I even knew what was happening, I saw that we were back at the Dragon Temple, Spyro standing before us, pale as a ghost, "Spyro? What's going on? What happened?" I said in confusion.

But Spyro didn't answer, averting his eyes from us as he muttered something unintelligible to himself, the four of us stood up, not sure what to think, he probably just saved our lives in fairness, but Malefor was still out there, free to level our home town! We had to get back out there! "Spyro we need to get back out there! If we don't-"I began, but didn't get the chance to finish as Spyro growled at me like an angry dog.

He then stormed off without a word, leaving us all confused and kinda sore…

* * *

 _ **Meanwhile…**_

* * *

I knew that coward Spyro would summon them back to him, his heart was just as soft as it was the last we battled, but I knew they'd be back, the rangers wouldn't leave their precious city to my mercy.

"L… Lord Malefor?" Asked Scorn, "What shall we do now?" He added, I stared at the empty spot the Power Rangers once stood before I came up with my answer.

I turned to my canine subordinate, "Burn the city to the ground, they'll be back, and when they do come back, I will finish them off for good," I said. I was through playing games, the Power Rangers will die today, and with them, both realm's hope would die as well…

* * *

 _ **To Be Continued….**_

* * *

 **A/N: Talk about a close call right? Will the Power Rangers be able to save New Harmony? Or will Malefor succeed in destroying everything the Power Rangers hold dear? Stay tuned!**

 **Don't worry, this isn't the end of the story by a long shot, you could just consider this something of a mid story finale of sorts, you'll see what I mean by the end of next chapter.**

 **Besides… I still have one more ranger to introduce… you know… the one on the cover… but he won't come for at least a few more chapters (I'm such a tease aren't I? Wakka Wakka!)**


	8. Wrath of the Dark Master Part 2

**Chapter 7: Wrath of the Dark Master Part 2**

* * *

It had been about an hour since Spyro had pulled us out of the fight with Malefor, the four of us just sort of hung around, still morphed, waiting for the go ahead to rejoin the fight. "So… on a scale of one to ten..." began Kevin, "How screwed is New Harmony?"

All of us just sort of sat in silence, the destruction of our hometown wasn't exactly an idea we wanted to contemplate. I had no idea what Spyro was up to or why he was making us sit out our own city's destruction, but it was beginning to try my patience. I wanted to jump back into the fray, save the city, ya know… be a hero? Isn't that what we were given these powers for?

I slammed my fist into the wall in frustration, "Dammit! We should be out there! Malefor's going to level our city! Kill our families and friends along with everyone else in New Harmony! We can't just sit here and do nothing!" I yelled, I was losing my mind right now, I had no idea if Mom was caught in the middle of this rampage or if it had already claimed her life, god I can't lose a parent again! Not like this!

"No one's going anywhere!"

We all turned to see Spyro enter the room, "You four almost died out there! You can't fight Malefor!" He yelled, something about the tone of his voice seemed a bit unhinged, like he was really freaked out about something.

Dean stood up, "But we can't just let him steamroll New Harmony! There are innocent people there! Dying! Someone has to-" He began but Spyro didn't let him finish, growling at him.

Spyro paused for a moment, "I can't do this to you four… I had no right to involve you…" He said, I didn't like where this was headed, "Remove your morphers, I'm not risking your lives anymore," He said.

All of us paused, just like that? He was going to strip us of our powers just like that? "Are you serious?! Malefor's destroying our city and you want us to just give up the one thing that can help us stop him?! Are you out of your mind?!" Kevin snapped.

Spyro glared at him, "I can't do this to you! It's my fault Malefor launched this attack! I can't be responsible for the deaths of four good people, give me your morphers NOW!" He roared.

I could tell no one was willing to do what he asked, everything we knew and loved was at stake here! "No! I'm not giving up just because Malefor turned up! My mother is out there! Our families are at stake! How the hell can you ask us to stand down now?!" I yelled.

Spyro was furious, I could tell, "Don't fight me on this Dylan! Malefor's my problem not yours, I'm doing this for your own good!" He growled.

Spyro could be very intimidating when he wanted to be, easily towering over me on all fours, but I had to stand my ground, I had no clue what had gotten into him but I needed to snap him out of it. "You chose us to defend our world! You knew we'd have to fight him eventually! Why are you suddenly changing your mind?" I snapped back.

Spyro looked like he was about to burst, overwhelmed by emotion, I could even see tears streaking down his face, "Because I can't watch more good people die alright?!" He cried, all of us just sort of stopped, confused as hell, "I've watched countless people like you die fighting Malefor's evil, be it during the war or cleaning out the remains of it afterwards. Seeing you four being decimated by Malefor, it… it was too much… I couldn't… I… had no right to do this to you… I… I..." He said, beginning to choke on his words.

The other rangers just sort of looked to me, silently asking me what we should do. I wasn't about to give up my powers and doom my world, but I couldn't put Spyro through this turmoil either, he'd done so much for us as heroes, even as friends… "Spyro… you didn't hurt us by making us rangers..." I said.

Kevin then stepped forward, "If anything… you made us closer… better," he admitted.

Dean stepped up next, "I mean, we get to save the world! Do good, help people, how can that be a bad thing?" Dean asked.

Jess then followed, "How can you ask us to give this up? Especially when our world needs us most?" She asked.

Spyro said nothing, just sort of staring sadly at the floor, I approached Spyro, "We all agreed to this, and we're all going to finish this, together, even if you took our powers, we'd still try to fight, because it **is** our fight now," I said, before all four of us surrounded the purple dragon, standing together, united, "You made us Power Rangers, and more importantly, you made us close friends, please… let us do this," I pleaded with him.

Spyro paused, I couldn't tell if we had gotten through to him or not, but eventually, "Activate the Zords, you can't fight Malefor on foot he's too strong," he finally relented.

We all couldn't resist cheering, finally we were going back into the fray, the others ran off to get in their zords, I went to follow but, "Dylan," Spyro called to me, I turned in his direction, "Be careful out there, please," He asked me. I gave him a thumbs up before rushing to my zord.

The Zords were all parked in a room just outside the training dojo, so this is where they came from! "Alright rangers! Let's save our city!" I said before each ranger hopped into their zords.

"Blue Ice Zord! Ready for some evil dragon hunting!"

"Green Earth Zord! Ready to rock and roll!"

"Yellow Electricity Zord! Look out Malefor because here we come!"

"Red Fire Zord! Let's go save the world guys!"

* * *

I watched the Rangers fly off in their zords, part of me really didn't want them to go, but another knew they were right, I needed to let them save their loved ones, their city, I just hoped to the ancestors they could survive the battle, I didn't know if even the zords would be enough to fight Malefor and his minions, but I would just have to trust in them…

* * *

 _ **Meanwhile…**_

* * *

The city soon came into view, it seemed that Malefor had wasted no time and had begun leveling the city, however, it didn't take him long to notice us, "Well well, look who's finally come back to face me, eager to die already Power Rangers?" He scoffed.

I glared at him from under the visor of my helmet, "You're the one going down Malefor! You messed with the wrong city! Let's do it rangers!" I said before divebombing my zord right at him.

The Zord was much larger than the ol' dark master, so I was able to squash him with a fist right into the pavement, or so I thought before he managed to throw me off, "Oh so it's like that is it? SCORN! Make me grow!" He ordered Scorn, Scorn fumbled in his satchel for a growth potion, but managed to find one and hit Malefor with it, causing him to grow to about the same size as our Zords, "There, now it's a fair fight… or… so you'd think," He said before latching himself onto my Zord, "I know you're in there little ranger! Come out and play!" He cackled before biting down on the head of my Zord.

The metal and glass covering the cockpit crunched and cracked from the force of his mighty maw, but the zord still held up enough to keep Malefor from catching me in his mouth, "Back off!" I cried before having the Zord grab Malefor by the horns and throwing him off.

Kevin flew up next to me, "You alright in there Dylan?" He asked me.

"Yeah I'm fine," I said, "Just keep on him, don't let up!" I ordered Kevin before launching myself back into the fight.

Dean and Jess were trying to keep him at bay with elemental shots, Dean trying to pin him to the ground with his earth breath while Jess zapped him with lightening. Malefor was able to break out of Dean's rocks and smacked Jess' Zord right in the face.

I rammed Malefor right in the back, causing him to stumble a bit but he managed to catch himself, he quickly ripped a building right out of the ground and cracked my Zord with it, god I hope no one was in that building, as it shattered into pieces immediately on impact with the Zord's metal head.

Kevin came flying in with a blast of ice breath, getting him right in the face, ice forming on his ugly face, but he powered through it and grabbed Kevin's Zord by the throat and choke slammed it through another building I really hope was empty.

Malefor stood tall over us, "You four are beginning to test my patience! You should have ran while you could! You might have lived a longer life!" He roared before slamming his front leg on the head of Kevin's Zord, trying to crush it and Kevin along with it! "Don't fight against it Blue Ranger, just accept death with DIGNITY!" He growled, pressing harder.

I couldn't sit here and watch this! "Get off my friend asshole!" I cried, throwing fire breath right at the Dark Master, catching him off guard and causing him to cry out in pain and stumble backwards.

Malefor for whatever reason, seemed confused by this, "I… Impossible! That hurt! Why did that hurt?!" He questioned, he studied his hand for a moment, as if checking it for something, "I must not be at full power yet… no matter, I will crush you pathetic humans regardless!" He growled.

He wasn't at full power? That didn't bode well for us… or did it? "Guys! He's not working with a full tank here! If we form the Mega Zord we might be able to take him down for good!" I said, if we could take down Malefor here and now the city would be saved for good! We had to at least try it.

The Zords began to form together, oddly Malefor just stood there and let it happen, I guess he was just **that** cocky that he thought he could take us in the Mega Zord while running on fumes, well… we were about to prove him **dead** wrong!

The Mega Zord formed, "Alright guys, time to take out the trash!" I said before propelling the Mega Zord forward.

Malefor however quickly pounced on the giant gestalt robot, sending it, and by extension **us** to the ground with a huge thud, "You think your toys can defeat **me** children?! Your pathetic Mega Zord is NOTHING to me!" He said, as if to demonstrate this, he tore the left arm of the Mega Zord clean off, wires and sparks burst from the socket as Malefor tossed the metal arm aside.

We had to get him off before he literally tore the Mega Zord apart! The Mega Zord punched Malefor off with it's remaining arm, knocking him off and allowing Mega Zord to get back to it's feet. "You humans are a tenacious bunch, I'll give you that, but even at half strength you cannot hope to stop me!" He said before sending a volley of ice crystals right at us, each one embedding itself into the Mega Zord's metal hide.

We all ducked and scrambled to get out of the way of the bursting sparks assaulting the cockpit, "Man, if this is Malefor at half power, I'm terrified to see what he's like at full strength!" said Kevin, I couldn't disagree, but we had to hold strong and hope we could beat him.

Malefor began to wail on the Mega Zord, knocking it around like a giant metal heavy bag! It was just about as fun for us as you'd expect, it was like being on the world's most sadistic amusement park ride! Just staying in my seat was a challenge with everything rocking around violently. "We can't take much more of this guys! The shields are giving and we're losing power!" Dean pointed out, making this whole ordeal even worse than it already was.

Malefor on the other hand, was having a ball, cackling like a madman as he battered the Mega Zord, "Having fun children?" He asked as he grasped the Zord by the neck, bringing the cockpit right up to his face, "I assure you, I will enjoy tearing this pathetic toy of yours to pieces, and killing you four for good!" He said before throwing the Mega Zord like a petulant child would a toy, sending us crashing into a bridge, and into the water beneath it.

We needed something to turn the tide here! We couldn't take much more of a beating before the Mega Zord gave out! "We've gotta have something that can take this jerk down!" I said, we could try the Mega Zord's Dragon Sword, "Legendary Dragon Sword!" I called, the sword coming down next to the downed Mega Zord, the robot clasped it in it's only remaining hand, the energy surging through the blade.

Malefor lunged at us, leaving himself open for a huge slash right across the chest, the Dark Master cried out as the energy surged through his body, knocking him down. We readied our sword again, ready to end the Dark Master once and for all.

However, we were knocked back by a sudden burst of purple energy, Malefor then began to laugh, "Well done Power Rangers, you actually managed to best me, albeit at half power, however I fear I must end this now, enjoy your pathetic little city for now, for once I regain my **full** power, I shall finish what I started!" He said, before suddenly vanishing in a smoky mist.

We sat there in our battered, broken Zord for what felt like an hour, we hadn't managed to kill Malefor, but at least we saved the city! For now, we then exploded into a triumphant roar, "Holy crap! We beat Malefor!" Dean cheered.

Kevin however, just shook his head, "For now, we're screwed when he comes back at full force," He said, Jess slapped Kevin in the back of the head for his pessimism, but he wasn't wrong, we barely survived our fight with Malefor at **half** strength, what was going to happen when he came at us fully powered?

* * *

 _ **Meanwhile…**_

* * *

I underestimated the Power Rangers, just as I had Spyro and Cynder all those years ago, my body still ached from that sword slash, despite them overcoming me, I had still dealt the Power Rangers a mighty blow, ravaging a good chunk of their precious city and ravaging their Mega Zord. "Master Malefor? Are you alright? Should I apply healing magic to your wounds?" Scorn asked me.

I waved him off, "I'll live, for now I need to rest, I want to be at full power when I confront the Power Rangers again," I said, I would not allow myself to be bested by children again, next time… they **will** die…

* * *

 _ **Meanwhile…**_

 _ **Back at the Temple…**_

* * *

We returned to the temple, still feeling the excitement of beating Malefor, sure he wasn't dead, but hey, we still saved the city right? The Zords would need fixing of course, Dean's especially, but we'd worry about that later, for now? We'd revel in our little victory.

Spyro greeted us, "Good to have you all back in once piece, good work fighting off Malefor," he congratulated us, "However… we can't ignore the fact that Malefor wasn't at his strongest," He then added rather grimly.

We all sort of looked at each other before turning towards our mentor, "What do we do then? I mean, he isn't going to just give up on destroying the realms," I asked, I was kinda worried about the answer, as I had no clue if Spyro was even okay with us fighting him again.

Spyro sighed, "There is one thing that might help," He began, "When I first began planning my Power Rangers team, I had made a morpher from my own essence to test if it would work, the Purple Dragon Morpher, I never planned on using it because I didn't think I'd need a fifth ranger, but clearly I was mistaken," he explained.

Kevin seemed relieved by the news, "Cool! Let's go get it and get ourselves a new ranger!" he said excitedly.

However, Spyro shook his head, "It's not that simple Kevin, you see… since I never planned on bestowing it upon someone, but not wanting it to fall into the wrong hands, I hid the morpher in my brother Sparx's tomb… if we were to retrieve it… you four would need to travel to the Dragon Realms," he explained.

We all looked at each other, we knew we had to find that morpher, we needed all the power we could get! "Then we go to the Dragon Realms, retrieve the morpher, and get ourselves a fifth member," I said.

Spyro lowered his head, "I warn you now, The Dragon Realm is a dangerous place, where humans do not exist, and your resemblance to the dragon's long time enemies the apes will not go unnoticed," he warned us.

He all nodded, understanding the risks, but it was something we had to do, we almost got stomped by a half powered Malefor, if we were going to stand up to him at full power, we needed all the help we could get, I just hope we can find that morpher before someone else does…

* * *

 **A/N: Well looks like our heroes are going to be traveling to the Dragon Realms now! What new adventures will await our heroes in this strange new land? Stay tuned!**


	9. The Defender of Avalar

**Chapter 8: The Defender of Avalar**

* * *

We made all the preparations we needed, convincing my mother to let me go on a "trip" with my friends was a bit tough, especially after the city nearly got destroyed, but with a little convincing, I managed to get her to agree.

We had all agreed to meet at the city park after packing our supplies and saying goodbye to our families, we all knew this was going to be a long trip, and we wanted to be as prepared as we possibly could be.

Kevin and I were the first to make it to the park, we both had backpacks full of extra clothes, food, water bottles, and other such items. "So… you ready for this?" I asked Kevin, "I mean, we're about to got to an alternate dimension, not exactly a thing many people get to claim to do," I added.

Kevin shrugged, "I just wanna get this over with, after our brawl with the world's ugliest dragon I think I'm looking forward to passing out for the next… say… couple months?" He said half jokingly.

I shook my head, "Well we'll have plenty of time to relax after we get that Purple Dragon Morpher," I said.

Soon enough, the other half of our team showed up and… holy crap did Dean have a big bag! The thing was almost as big as he was! How much crap did he pack?! "Whoa Dean, you raid the whole Walmart before coming here?" Kevin asked.

Dean laughed it off, "You can never be too prepared dude, you'll be thanking me when we have to rough it for a night or two, I got enough tents in here for all four of us," He said rather proudly.

Kevin rolled his eyes, "I doubt we're going to be staying for long dude, we're just going to bust into Spyro's bro's tomb and snagging a morpher, not taking a vacation," He said.

Jess decided to interject, "Come on guys don't fight, we don't know how long we're going to be there, it never hurts to be a little prepared," she said. She had a pretty good point, it was better we were ready for anything, we had no clue how long this would take, nor what even awaited us in the Dragon Realms.

Leaving it at that, we all teleported to the Dragon Temple, where Spyro was right there waiting for us, "About time you four showed up," he said, "I was beginning to worry you wouldn't show up," he added.

Kevin chuckled, "Come on Spyro, we wouldn't bail on you like that," he said, causing the old purple dragon to have his own little chuckle.

He then produced some kind of weird looking crystal, "Travel between the realms is almost impossible without the special crystal like this, mages use them to travel to their nexus realm, I managed to grab one before going into hibernation, I figured I'd need one just in case," He explained.

He then pointed it to the far side of the room, suddenly a portal just appeared out of nowhere, Spyro then handed the crystal to me, "Use it to return to the temple once you have the Purple Dragon Morpher, simply picture the dragon temple in your head and point it to where you want the portal to appear, and you can return home," he explained.

Why did I have the sinking feeling I'd end up losing this thing? God would that suck! I placed it in my backpack before we all made our way towards the portal, "Remember!" Spyro said before we stepped through, "The tomb your looking for should be a short distance from where you appear! But be on your guard, there's no telling what will be waiting for you there! Be careful, and may the Ancestors look after you," He said before we all stepped through.

Suddenly we found ourselves in some kind of swamp land, it sure smelled like one at least, nice. "Alright, let's go snag ourselves a morpher!" I said, Spyro had said the tomb wasn't too far from where we were, perhaps Kevin would be right and we wouldn't need to spend too long here? Knock on wood.

We all trudged through the swamp, which was about as pleasant as you'd think, god I was going to need new shoes after this, and pants… the joys of being a Power Ranger am I right? It wasn't long before we found what I assumed to be the temple we were looking for, just sort of sitting there in the middle of the swamp for some reason, you'd think the brother of the legendary purple dragon would get a little more respect than this?

The tomb was your typical brick set up, however, two bronze statues of dragonflies sat at both ends of the entrance, how random. We all stood there for a good five minutes, not one of us really wanting to set foot in a tomb.

Kevin finally got fed up, "Fine! I'll do the grave robbing!" He said before walking over to the tomb, Kevin disappeared into the inky blackness beyond the doorway, a few more minutes passed before suddenly, "It's not in here!" Kevin called from the tomb.

My heart hit the floor, "What do you mean it's not in there?!" I asked in a mix of shock and terror.

Kevin walked out of the tomb, "Nothing in there but a really tiny coffin dude, someone must have made off with it," he clarified.

Well this was just fantastic! Some jerk stole the morpher! Now what were we supposed to do? " _Perhaps it's in the Dragon City of Warfang?_ " Theorized Ignitus, Warfang? Well it was about as good a lead as any, problem though, I had no idea how to get there, like… at all. " _You forget young ranger, you have someone in your head who knows the way quite well_ ," Ignitus said in a slightly mocking tone, dude I get it your in my brain, no need to be a jerk about it.

So with that, I told the others we were headed for Warfang, Ignitus subconsciously lead the way, like some kind of mystical GPS, and my was it a **long** walk. With every step, I hated this little adventure of ours more and more, god why did someone have to make off with the morpher? What exactly did they think they were gonna do with it anyway? Blow away the Dragon Realms' Halloween party?

Dean seemed to be the only one not hating life right now, dude was walking like fatigue was just a silly thing that only mortals worried about, "Dude, how much farther?" asked Kevin, "My legs feel like they're about to explode!" he whined.

" _Warfang is still quite a_ _distance_ _away_ " Ignitus informed me, " _We still have to cut through the valley of Avalar_ ," He added.

I sighed, "Sorry Kev, Ignitus says we still have quite a hike ahead of us," I said, causing Kevin to groan in disapproval.

Dean turned himself around to face Kevin, walking backwards now, "Come on man, you need to work out more," he teased the Blue Ranger, Kevin's only reply was flipping Dean off, "Oh now that's uncalled for man," Dean said before turning himself back around so he was walking forwards.

However, suddenly out of nowhere, something snagged Kevin in the leg, sending him upwards before he found himself dangling upside down by a thick rope, "Guys! Help! Get me down!" Kevin said, flailing his arms around trying to get free.

"Boss! We got one!"

Suddenly out of no where a bunch of… baboons of all things came bursting from the undergrowth, like a bunch of furry ninjas. Each one was adorned in makeshift armor, they were joined by a very large baboon, who seemed quite pleased he had snagged Kevin, "One out of four ain't bad," he said in gravely voice, "I don't know what you four are or where you came from, but I know that dragon stink anywhere," he added.

None of us knew what was happening or why we were being attacked by a bunch of monkeys in armor, "Any ally of those overgrown lizards are an enemy of the ape armies! Kill them!" The large baboon ordered his underlings.

Well, while we haven't found the Purple Dragon Morpher, we **did** find a fight, yay? Jess, Dean, and I, all took fighting stances, "Can any of you get to Kevin?" I asked.

Dean nodded, "Leave it to me," He said.

I nodded back, "Jess and I will take the apes, you get Kevin free," I ordered everyone, and with that, the apes launched themselves at us, wild and crazed, claws and teeth bared. I kicked one right in the head sending him tumbling into a tree.

Before I could even think of my next move another ape attacked, throwing surprisingly graceful punches and kicks, I wasn't used to fighting something that actually knew martial arts, and got caught with a powerful haymaker knocking me down, the apes wasted no time in capitalizing, piling on top of me, I tried to fight them off but the numbers game eventually won out, "This one has some fight in him!" one ape commented with a laugh.

The apes held me down, with another brandished some kind of gnarly looking sword, mangled and slightly rusty, "Hold him still," the sword wielding ape said, readying himself for the killing blow, I tried not to show fear, out of some odd need to not look weak in the face of death I guess…. However…

Suddenly a purple blur knocked the ape right on his ass, everyone stopped in wonder to see the stranger that had decided to join the fray, "Oh no!" one of the apes holding me down whined, "Not him again!" he added.

I looked again to see the stranger closer and there was no mistaking what he was now, he was clearly a Power Ranger, but one I hadn't seen before, his outfit was not unlike the rest of ours, aside from the golden chest armor he wore over his purple suit, his helmet's mouth area was slightly jutted out more, and it was obvious said helmet was meant to resemble Spyro, he held a long silver blade in his hands, with purple markings across the blade and a purple gem in the middle of it, the hilt resembled a dragon head, with the wings serving as a cross guard.

The mysterious ranger then struck a pose, "I am the Defender of Avalar! Champion of the dragon realms! Power of Aether! Purple Dragon Ranger!" The stranger said in a young male voice, striking another pose.

Well, looks like we found the Purple Dragon Morpher, it seems that this guy had somehow found the thing, and was using it to play vigilante or something. The Purple Ranger wasted no time in kicking the apes asses with surprising efficiency. Striking each ape down in one move, it didn't take long for him to clear them out.

The largest ape began to back away, "You haven't seen the last of us Purple Ranger! We'll be back!" He said trying and failing to hide how scared he was before bolting into the swamp lands.

The Purple Ranger then threw his sword into the air, cutting the rope that held Kevin in the air, sending him crashing onto the hard ground. The rest of us just sort of inched towards the new ranger, "Uh… hi… we-" I began, trying to introduce myself to the new ranger, only to be cut off when he pointed his sword right at my throat, making me stop right in my tracks.

"Who are you? What are you doing so close to the Valley of Avalar?" He growled.

Jess decided to answer, "We're… we're the P.. Power Rangers… w… we came here looking for the Purple Dragon m.. morpher," she stammered.

The Purple Ranger weirdly sounded with a feline like snarl, "Well you came in vain!" he growled, "I will not surrender it! The apes attack my village daily, I need this power to defend them! I will not let you take it from me!" He protested.

Oh great, he wasn't willing to play ball, Dean tried his hand next, "Look man, it doesn't have to be like that, you can come back with us and-" He began, before a growl from our purple friend cut him off.

"I will do nothing of the sort!" He snarled, "I'm needed **here** , I suggest you tell whoever sent you that your traveled in vain, I have no interest in any of you or whatever your mission is," He said. Of course he was being difficult, because nothing can ever be easy for us can it? The Purple Ranger then leaped into a tree, "Do not follow me! Or else I will strike you down! So swears the Purple Ranger!" He said before vanishing.

Kevin got up off the ground, "Someone sure has a flair for the dramatic," he commented, "So what do we do now?" He asked.

Jess stepped forward, "We can't just leave! We need that morpher!" She said.

Dean sighed, "We just need to get him to listen, his world is in just as much danger as ours, if we can just convince him," He suggested.

Kevin shook his head, "Dude's a loon, we're better off just ripping that thing off his wrist and finding someone less nuts," he countered.

Dean then turned to me, "You're the leader Dylan, what's your call?" he asked me.

On one hand, Kevin had a point, the guy was clearly not interested in helping us, but still, convincing him might be our best option, he was familiar enough with his powers to be an asset to the team, "We go with Dean's plan, we find him, and we convince him, and if that fails, then we can take the morpher off him," I said.

Kevin rolled his eyes, "Sure! Let's recruit the maniac that held a sword to your throat! That will end well!" he complained, it was my plan Kevin, if you didn't like it then that's your problem, besides, I know if I can just get the guy to understand then he'll change his tune.

* * *

 _ **Later…**_

* * *

The Ranger had mentioned the Valley of Avalar, so we all assumed that was the best place to start looking for him, I had a sinking feeling we'd end up having to fight him, especially after the not so subtle warning he gave us before leaving, but we had to try, the fate of two worlds was at stake here!

It took a while to even get to said Valley of Avalar, but when we reached it, it was a refreshing change from the dingy swamp we had found ourselves in prior, but it wasn't all that impressive, just a typical, boring valley.

I could see a small village in the distance, complete with straw huts, this was what the Purple Ranger deemed worth dooming both worlds for? Whatever, we all began to approach the village, figuring it was a good place to start, however we didn't even get two feet close before we suddenly found ourselves ambushed again.

However, instead of apes, we found ourselves surrounded on all sides by what could only be described as cheetah men, although their hair was much longer than the typical cheetah, making them look more like bobcats, they were all dressed in tunics and brandishing medieval weaponry, and judging by the looks on their faces, they were poised to use them on us at the drop of a hat.

One of the cheetahs slowly approached, spear pointed right at my head, "Who are you? What buisness do you have in our Valley?" The cheetah snarled.

I rose my hands up, trying to show I wasn't armed, "Dude, relax! We aren't here for a fight, we're looking for someone, a Purple Power Ranger… he mentioned the Valley of Avalar so we figured he'd be here," I tried to explain, I didn't know if these guys would even know what a Power Ranger was, but I really wasn't looking to start a fight again.

The cheetahs kept their weapons on us, "We know not of this "Purple Ranger" you speak of! We will not ask again! Leave or die!" The cheetah warned us. It seemed that I was right in assuming these cheetahs didn't know what a Power Ranger was, but it wasn't exactly going to do us any favors either since Chester Cheetah here seemed quite poised to run his spear tight though my stupid face.

"Wait!" One suddenly said, "Look! His wrist!" He added, pointing to me.

The Cheetah with the spear looked at my wrist, eyes widening when he saw my morpher, "The Dragon symbol of fire!" he exclaimed. "From where did you get this?" He asked me.

I decided to try telling the truth, hoping to god he'd buy it, "The Purple Dragon gave it to me, he sent us here to find the Purple Dragon morpher," I explained.

This caused the cheetahs to lower their weapons, "Any friend of the great Purple Dragon is a friend of this village," He said, oh thank god! I was not ready to fight off an entire village of giant kitty cats right now.

However, one cheetah didn't seem to agree, "We can't trust them!" one said, he looked quite young, slender, he wore a purple tunic with matching hooded cape, a sword sheathed at his side, "Look at them! They're **apes**!" He added, oh come on dude! Really?

The cheetah turned to the other cheetah, "Enough Zenith!" the cheetah barked at his paranoid friend, revealing his name to be Zenith, the cheetah then turned to me, "You must forgive my son, he is loyal but very mistrusting," He explained, revealing that he was Zenith's father, "Come allies of the Purple Dragon, you look quite worn from your journey, especially the blue one," He said.

Kevin did look a bit out of sorts, then again, being hung upside down for a good couple of minutes and having pointy sticks pointed at him was enough to make anyone a bit crabby.

We all followed the cheetahs into the village, it wasn't much to look at really, just a bunch of straw huts and such. Zenith's father lead us into a specific hut, where a rather old looking cheetah sat in front of a burn pit of some sorts, currently unlit but still holding a few charred logs in it. "Darvis, who are these four? **What** are they?" The old feline asked.

The elder feline was orange in color, his face sagged and wrinkled, a scar ran across his right eye, his robes were tan in color, with a paw print buckle holding it in place, Zenith's father, Darvis I guess, got on one knee, "Forgive me Chief Prowlus, but these creatures claim to be of the employ of the Purple Dragon, they bear the symbols of the dragons," He explained, giving the elder cat a name, Prowlus.

Prowlus looked us over with his aged eyes, "What brings you to my village?" He asked quite sternly.

"We came looking for the Purple Dragon Morpher," I said, but realized they probably had no clue what a morpher even was, "A device like this," I said, showing off my morpher.

Prowlus got up from his spot, and slowly trudged his way over to me, using a walking cane which upon further inspection was just a large tree branch, the old cat then grabbed my arm, studying the morpher closely, "Ah… I heard rumors years ago that Spyro was creating such devices," He commented, "You claim that a fifth is here?" He asked me.

Dean decided to answer, "Well, kinda, we ran into someone who had found the Purple Dragon Morpher, he claimed to be the "Defender of Avalar", so we figured he'd be here," he explained.

The chief's eyes widened, "You think one of my villagers has acquired such a device?" He asked us.

We all looked at each other, before answering, "Well, maybe, we don't know for sure, we're just following the only lead we have," I clarified.

Prowlus nodded, "Very well, but for now I urge you to rest, I will inform the dragons of Warfang you are here, I'm certain they will be quite interested in your presence," He said, "Darvis, show our guests to their chambers," He instructed Darvis, Darvis did so, leading us out of the hut.

* * *

 _ **Later…**_

* * *

The hut Prowlus had given us was quite small, but I didn't exactly plan on staying long so it wasn't that big of a deal really, there wasn't much inside the hut, a simple cot and burn pit at the center.

Suddenly our morphers beeped, a hologram of Spyro appeared in the center of the hut, "Rangers, what's your progress? It's been a few hours, have you found the morpher yet?" He asked.

We all just sort of looked at each other, none of us really wanting to be the one to break the news to the purple dragon, but eventually, Kevin decided to be the one to break the news, "Well, yes and no," He said, "We found the morpher, but it's kinda already been… claimed," he clarified.

Spyro raised an eyeridge, "Someone's already picked it up? How?" He asked.

I shook my head, "No clue, but he wasn't exactly willing to join up with us, the dude seemed to fancy himself some Defender of Avalar, or something, we're currently looking for him in some cheetah village," I explained.

Spyro sighed, "I was afraid of that, you have to convince this person to join us, removing those powers from someone is almost impossible, it's part of why I scrapped that morpher, I wanted to give my rangers the option to walk away it they wished to," He explained, I head Kevin groan, knowing he wasn't too keen on the Purple Ranger joining the group. "You need to find that ranger! And quickly, I don't know how much longer Malefor or his forces are going to lay low, and I don't want to leave your world defenseless longer than I have to," He added.

With that, the hologram vanished, this was a right pickle wasn't it? Now we **had** to convince the Purple Ranger to join the group, which wasn't going to be easy, the dude seemed to want nothing at all to do with any of us.

However, we didn't get much time to think this over as we heard someone cry "Apes!" from outside, all four of us decided to leave the hut and see what the commotion was about, only to find an army of apes lead by that same big ape from before, he was face to face with Darvis and the rest of the village, "I'll give you one last chance Cheetah, surrender the village or watch it burn!" The ape grunted.

Darvis snarled, "We'll never surrender to you or your ilk Grave," He said, revealing the ape's name to be Grave, such weird names in this world I swear.

Grave smirked, "You can't fight us all off feline," he said, before suddenly knocking Darvis to the ground with a cheap shot, "Especially when you let your guard down like that," Grave laughed.

"Father!" Zenith cried, rushing to his father's aid, I couldn't watch this anymore!

I rushed forward, putting myself between Zenith and Grave, "That's enough! Back off or else!" I demanded.

Grave laughed, "Well look who it is! Did you forget already how our last encounter went? Your little purple friend isn't here to save you this time whelp!" Grave cackled.

I noticed Zenith look at his sword out of the corner of my eye, for what reason I had no clue, but I couldn't focus on that right now, I had an ape to humble, "Well, last time I didn't get the chance to do **this!"** I said before going into my morphing stance. " _ **It's morphin' time!**_ " I called out before the others joined my side.

" _ **Legendary Dragon! Power of Red Fire!**_ "

" _ **Legendary Dragon! Power of Blue Ice!**_ "

" _ **Legendary Dragon! Power of Green Earth!**_ "

" _ **Legendary Dragon! Power of Yellow Electricity!**_ "

The giant ape laughed, "Nice outfits, but they won't help you against me!" He snarled before knocking us all back with one huge right hook, it felt like getting hit by a dump truck! But I was quick to my feet again.

I turned to the cheetahs, "Go! Get to safety! We'll handle this over grown monkey!" I said, the cheetahs did so, hiding themselves in their huts.

All except one of course, "I'm not abandoning my father!" cried Zenith, of course **he** was going to be difficult right?

Dean grabbed him by the arm, "Come on man! Let us handle this!" He said, but Zenith swatted Dean's arm away.

He then drew his sword which upon further inspection, looked exactly like the one the… Purple Ranger was holding… wait… he… he can't be, "I can defend myself! This is **my** village!" He said before uncovering his right arm, revealing a morpher, "And I'm going to defend it!" He said before bringing the blade of the sword to the gem on his morpher, " _ **Legendary Dragon! Power of the Purple Dragon!**_ " He called, revealing that Zenith was the Purple Ranger.

He morphed into that form, "I told you not to follow me Power Rangers!" He growled, oh boy, looks like we were getting that fight with the Purple Ranger a lot sooner than we thought.

Grave meanwhile, found the whole thing hilarious, "So the Purple Ranger turns out to be a little Cheetah whelpling? This is too much!" He laughed.

Zenith didn't take too kindly to that, "I'll show **you** who's a whelpling ape! _**HIYAH!**_ " He said, leaping into he air, his sword sparking with a similar energy to the energy that formed on the Mega Zord's sword, **"AETHER** _ **BURST!**_ " He cried, sending the purple energy right at Grave, who grunted as it made contact.

But he quickly recovered, "Nice try Purple Ranger! But you'll need more than that to beat me!" He said before decking the Purple Ranger right in the face, sending him right into our waiting arms.

However Zenith quickly pushed us off him, "I don't need your help! Stay out of my way!" He admonished us.

You know, I've had more than enough of this overgrown kitty cat's attitude, "Look!" I growled, "Whether you like it or now furball, you're a Power Ranger, and so are we! And Power Rangers fight together! You can't take this guy alone! Let us help you!" I said.

Zenith snarled, "I don't WANT you help!" He roared, one again pushing me aside, however I wasn't backing down, I needed to convince this little twerp to work with us, and I wasn't taking no for an answer.

I grabbed him by the shield, bringing his helmeted face up to mine, "You **need** our help! Look around you Zenith! These guys are going to destroy your village, everything you've ever known and loved! What kind of "Defender of Avalar" leaves his village to rot all because he's too prideful to accept the help of his fellow rangers?" I asked him.

"Ahem," Sounded Grave, "If you two lovebirds are done with your little quarrel, I have a village to destroy," He said.

I turned to Zenith, "Come on dude, whatever petty little grudge you have with us isn't worth sacrificing your people over, we can take him together! What do you say?" I said, really hoping I'd get through to him, I knew even morphed I wouldn't be able to take him on my own.

Zenith thought it over for what felt like an eternity, before finally, "Fine! But only for now," he relented, it was a start at least.

" _ **Sword of Flame!**_ " I said, summoning my weapon, "Alright monkey boy, playtime is over!" I said, readying my sword.

Zenith and I both slashed our swords downwards, sending a mix of fire and… whatever Zenith's element was, right at Grave, who found himself knocked on his ass along with the rest of his little army. "Give up now Grave!" I said before being joined by the rest of the Rangers, "You can't take all five of us!" I added.

Grave slowly got up, clearly rocked from that last hit."You… you little… I'll kill all five of you! RAAAAAH!" He said before charging us like a madman.

I stood firm, "Alright guys, bring 'em together!" I instructed everyone, looking to form the Legendary Dragon Blaster.

" _ **Ax of Earth!"**_

" _ **Daggers of Lightening!"**_

" _ **Lance of Ice!"**_

" _ **Sword of Flame!"**_

The Legendary Dragon Blaster fell right into our hands, however, Zenith slapped his own sword onto the top, _**"Purple Dragon Sword!"**_ I called as he did so, the blaster sparked with purple energy, as we all got ready to fire it right in the face of that ugly son of a bitch.

" _ **Legendary Dragon Blaster!**_ " All five of us called, " _ **FIRE!**_ ", the blaster shot it's elements right at the ape warlord, he cried in pain as the blaster made contact, he fell to the ground, motionless, oh man… I think we killed him…

However, his apes helped him to his feet, revealing he was more dazed by the attack than killed, "You haven't seen the last of us Power Rangers! We'll be back!" One of the apes snarled before they all retreated.

I couldn't help but smirk, watching those wannabe conquerors run away with their tails between their legs, "Good job team! Those baboons never knew what hit 'em," I exclaimed.

However, "There, we drove them out! Now leave!" Zenith yelled, well I guess it was a bit much to hope blasting Grave in the face would be enough to convince him to join us.

I didn't know what else to say to him, he was so set in his ways I doubted I **could** reason with him, however, "Zenith?"

We all looked to see Zenith's father back on his feet, Zenith fumbled around a bit, not sure how to explain any of this to his father, "Father… I… I can explain!" He stammered.

Zenith's father approached him, "Son, why didn't you say anything? They came here for something **you** had the entire time?" He asked.

Zenith growled, "Because I don't want anything to do with them! I use this power to protect our village! And they want to take that away from me! From US!" He protested.

Darvis shook his head, "Son, what they fight for is far more important than our village, Prowlus told me that the purple dragon created these morphers to stop Malefor when he rises again, if they fail, we lose far more than just our village," He explained.

I decided to step in, "Look, I get you want to protect your home Zenith," I began, "But right now… all of our homes are at stake, the best thing you can do for your village, is help us stop Malefor," I said.

Zenith thought it over for an agonizingly long amount of time, come on man, was it really **that** hard of a decision? "Alright, I'll join your group, but only to keep **my** world safe, I have no interest in being your "friend"," Zenith spat, well… at least we got him to join up… that had to count for something right?

Well now that that was dealt with, time to head back, we all headed for the hut we had been offered, where our stuff was and by extension, the crystal we needed to head back to the Dragon Temple, however, when we opened the door, we found everything in tatters.

Clothing and supplies laid sprawled all over the floor, backpacks torn to shreds, and worst of all, no sign of the crystal Spyro gave me, "Oh no no no no! You can't be serious!" I said, tossing clothes aside trying to find the crystal, dammit the apes must have raided the hut while we were fighting Grave!

Zenith approached, "What is it? What are you looking for?" He asked, of course he had no clue what it was I was losing my mind over, but the others seemed to have a general idea.

I sighed, "Spyro gave me a crystal used for transporting between worlds," I said, "And the apes took it," I added, we were now stranded in the Dragon Realms, I **knew** taking that crystal would bite me in the ass…

* * *

 **A/N: Uh oh! Looks like our heroes are trapped in the Dragon Realms! Can our heroes find a way back? Or will the Human Realms remain unprotected?**

 **Finally, I was able to add the fifth member to the group, Zenith being a cheetah was something I had planned from the start, I wanted at least one Ranger to represent Spyro's world, and I thought it would add a nice dynamic to the group.**

 **Update: 8/25/18: Research is important kids, had to change "Convexity" to "Aether" due to learning "Aether is the proper name for the element intended by the developers of TLoS. (It's even referred to as such in the game's code) Ya learn somethin' new everyday.**


	10. The Abandoned Son

**Chapter 9: The Abandoned Son**

* * *

An awkward air hung over the hut for a good couple of minutes, in one instant our whole mission went up in flames. Spyro had given me direct instructions not to lose that crystal and now it was gone, and with it our chances of ever returning home. I slammed my fist into the ground, cursing under my breath, how the hell could I have been so careless? Dammit!

Eventually, someone had to break the uncomfortable silence, "So… what do we do now?" Jess asked. What **do** we do now? Without that crystal, we're stuck in the Dragon Realms, and I didn't know where we would be able to find another one.

Kevin shook his head, "We have to find another one, we can't be stuck here while Malefor plots his next attack on our world!" he said, he wasn't wrong, we were needed on Earth, he wasn't targeting the Dragon Realms… yet… with us stuck here it was open season on New Harmony.

We were all in a panic, visions of Malefor laying waste to everything and everyone we've ever cared about swirling in our heads, in an instant we had doomed our world. The only one not in a panic was Zenith, which kinda made sense, it wasn't **his** world that was defenseless right now. He just sort of stood there with a blank expression on his feline face, strangely… he almost seemed annoyed by our panic, god knows why.

Dean put his hands on his hips, shaking his head at the situation, "We should tell Chief Prowlus, maybe he can help us find another one?" he suggested, it wasn't a bad idea, Prowlus knew this world better than we did, maybe he'd know where we'd be able to find a crystal?

We all left the hut after gathering whatever remained of our supplies back into our bags. We found Prowlus, overseeing a pack of cheetahs rummaging through the damaged huts, he noticed us approach, "Rangers, you look troubled," He said, was it really that obvious?

I sighed, "We have a problem," I said, Prowlus tilted his head in confusion, so I elaborated, "We were given a teleportation crystal by Spyro to get here and eventually return, but it seems the apes tore through our stuff and made off with it during the attack," I explained.

Prowlus sighed, "That's unfortunate," he said, "Those crystals are very hard to come by, The Sorceress' mages guard them jealously, the fact the purple dragon was able to acquire even one of them is impressive," he explained. My heart sank upon hearing this, knowing just how screwed we really where was a tough pill to swallow.

Kevin stepped forward, "So we have to beat up a few magic geeks? Seems doable to me," He said.

However, Prowlus shook his head, "It isn't that simple blue ranger," he sighed, "The Sorceress is desperate to keep the crystals out of the hands of the dragons and their allies, even the most mighty of warriors have been slain trying to get those crystals," he explained.

I sighed, "We have to try," I said, "If we can't get back to the Human Realms, our world will be defenseless against Malefor and his army," I added, it was our only shot at returning home, we had to at least try it.

Prowlus sighed, "I understand," he said, he went to continue, but was cut off by the sounds of shouting, I was only able to make out one word from the various other cries of the cheetahs.

Dragon.

Suddenly a large shadow was cast over us, I looked up to find a large red dragon landing himself right in front of us. The dragon looked a bit aged, about Spyro's age if I were to ballpark it, his head spikes were like his, only the front was thicker, almost like a horn, he had little flame shaped appendages sticking from his jawline and one on his chin acting almost as a goatee. His snout was rounded on the end, almost resembling a beak, his horns were almost identical to Spyro's, yellow and lightening bolt shaped, with two smaller ones sticking out from his temples.

The dragon looked upon us with a wide grin, "I assume you are the Power Rangers Prowlus sent word to us about?" he said, none of us really knew how to react, who was this guy? Why was he here? And could he possibly have worse timing?

The dragon bowed his head, "I am Flame, the Fire Guardian," He introduced himself. Flame? Really? His parents couldn't think of a better name than "Flame"? But this introduction did little to alleviate our confusion, why was he here? "Uhh… what's with the silent treatment? Do I have something in my teeth?" He then asked, picking at his teeth with his sharp claws.

Prowlus decided to break the awkward silence, "Greetings Flame, still as undisciplined and ignorant as always I see," said Prowlus in an annoyed monotone, "How you became Fire Guardian I'll never know," he added with a slight growl.

Flame simply cocked his head, "Chief Prowlus, still have that ten foot stick up your ass I see," He snickered.

Prowlus simply rolled his eyes, "You came at a bad time Flame, it seems the Power Rangers have lost their teleportation crystal, and as such, cannot return home, they were just explaining this to me as you came in," he explained.

Flame's expression dropped upon hearing this, his jovial upbeat personality becoming much more grave, "Do you have a plan in place?" he asked.

Prowlus looked to me before bringing his eyes back to Flame, "The Rangers seem poised to raid The Sorceress' castle to acquire a new crystal, I was trying to explain to them the dangers involved with such a plan," he explained to the fire dragon.

Flame nodded, "It's brave, I'll give them that," he said rather dryly, "But it's also suicide, we've tried many times to raid that castle, each time ended in miserable failure," he explained.

I shook my head, "But we can't just sit here and do nothing either! Our world is defenseless right now!" I said, I knew it was dangerous, but what other choice did we have? It's not like another crystal is going to magically appear out of nowhere!

Flame sighed, "I know, but you're no help to your world **dead** either," he pointed out, "If we're going to get you a teleportation crystal, we need to do it right, come with me, we'll discuss this with the other guardians in Warfang," he then instructed us.

* * *

 _ **Later...**_

* * *

So we agreed to go with Flame to Warfang, we grabbed what little remained of our supplies and said our goodbyes to the cheetahs, Zenith taking time to say goodbye to his family he probably wouldn't be seeing for a long time after this, if ever. I could imagine how hard this was for him, to just up and leave everything he ever knew and loved to join us on our quest, but with the fate of two worlds riding on us, sacrifices needed to be made.

We all met up with Flame, who began to lead us to Warfang, the whole group was silent as we trudged through the wilderness, the sounds of birds chirping being the only thing breaking the silence of our little hike, the weight of our plight hanging heavy over each of us.

I couldn't help but think of my own family, my mother, my little excuse of going on a trip with my friends was only going to work on her for so long, god if I died here… she'd never know… spending the rest of her life wondering where I was, clinging onto the foolish hope I was out there somewhere when in reality I'd be rotting away in a whole other world.

I tried to move my mind away from that thought, I couldn't focus on something like that right now, I was supposed to be the leader of this team, I needed to keep my attention on the task at hand here. I couldn't let my mind ravage itself with worry… as hard as it was to do so.

"So..." Flame began, trying to break the awkward silence, "You guys been Power Rangers long?" He asked.

None of us were all that willing to answer, none of us really in the mood for small talk given the grave situation we found ourselves in, Flame seemed to figure this out after a good twenty seconds of awkward silence. "We heard rumors that Spyro had vanished to create Power Rangers, when I got Prowlus' message that you guys were in his village, I had to see for myself," He explained. "I have to admit, things have been a bit rough over the past couple decades since Spyro vanished, the apes have risen in power and their attacks are becoming more bold," he added.

I happened notice Zenith glaring at us out the corner of my eye as Flame said this, but whatever it was that bothered him he seemed to wish to keep to himself as he said nothing. "But.. I shouldn't worry you five with that, we can handle the apes fine enough on our own," said Flame, "Malefor on the other hand? I doubt we could survive another attack from him, considering the world was almost destroyed the last time he attacked us," he added.

Thanks for confirming how much I've messed up, I was still kicking myself for losing that crystal, I had even forgotten I had it in that backpack, god I suck at this super hero thing!

Eventually, we came up to a rather large wall, "Wow… that's a big wall," commented Kevin.

Flame sighed, "It's unfortunately very necessary, ya know, with the apes and all," He explained. Flame then lead us to the gate, guarded by two moles of all things, they wore golden armor and held long spears in their hands, but they were comically short in stature, only coming up to my waist in height.

The two guards let us through without a word, I guess us being with the Fire Guardian was enough for them to wave us through without so much as a second thought.

The gates opened with a loud creak, revealing the gorgeous fantasy like city of Warfang, stone buildings towered over the hustle and bustle of the townsfolk below, they were all a mix of animal people and dragons of varying shapes, sizes, and colors. It felt like I had just landed in someone's D&D book. Flame lead us through the crowded streets, as onlookers stared in wonder at what to them, must seem like otherworldly creatures.

I tried to not let the wandering gazes of the passers by get to me, but having an entire city's eyes on you was kinda hard to ignore. "They're staring at us," squeaked Jess, with her social anxiety this must have been killing her right now.

Kevin put a hand on her shoulder, "Well, in a town of dragons and animal people, we are kinda the freaks here," He said rather matter-of-factly, he wasn't wrong though, we were the standouts here, Spyro had mentioned that humans didn't exist in this world, so the weird looks kinda made sense.

Flame lead us to a very large looking temple, two statues stood at it's front, one was clearly Spyro, but I didn't recognize the one on his left, it looked to be a rather slender dragon, an odd pattern etched into it's stone forehead, it appeared to have bracelets on it's front legs, and a choker around the neck, I'd have to ask Spyro about it when we got back home, assuming we ever did that is…

We entered the temple, and it was quite different from the one Spyro hung out in, as it was much more ornate and dare I say, modern, it was still a medieval fantasy temple, but it seemed much more defined and thought out with torches lining the halls, banners with the elemental symbols lining the walls, and solid stone floors. We were lead into a large room, where four other dragons were waiting for us.

One was a slender looking blue ice dragon, with pale blue scales and purple underbelly, it's snout was more of a beak than a snout, it's horns straight and white, it's eyes a piercing bright blue. The second was a copper colored earth dragon, with horns that almost looked like they were made of wood that curled inwards like that of a ram, green head spikes dotted the base of it's head up to the tip of it's tail that ended in a mace like appendage. The third was a rather timid looking yellow electric dragon, his coloration was almost exactly like Jess' zord, yellow with purple horns and head spike, his figure was a bit think in comparison to the average male dragon, showing this dragon was the brain over brawn type.

However, the fourth dragon was a curious one, it was black in color, kinda resembled the statue outside, but this dragon had a much thicker build, and a snout that resembled Spyro's more than the mystery dragon's. The dragon seemed to just glare at us with piercing emerald eyes.

The ice dragon was the first to speak, "I assume these are the fabled Power Rangers?" The dragon asked in a smooth, feminine voice.

The earth dragon ran his dark brown eyes up and down our figures, "Such small, feeble looking creatures they are," He said in a booming base of a voice.

The electric dragon stammered a bit, "Wh… what are they? Th.. they kinda look like… h… hairless apes," He said.

Flame nodded, "These are indeed the Power Rangers, the purple dragon's chosen champions," He said rather proudly for some reason.

The black dragon seemed to growl at the mention of the purple dragon, as if the very thought of Spyro bothered him for some reason.

The other dragons puzzled at us for a good long while, not sure what to make of us, to be honest I didn't blame them, we did look like average, boring humans on the surface, I mean, save for Zenith who was an average, boring cheetah man, but you get the point. I imagine they'd expected valiant looking heroes with flowing hair and muscles the size of cantaloupes, not Joe Boring and the twig brigade.

Flame turned to us, "Rangers, these are my fellow Guardians," He said, he then pointed to the large earth dragon, "Sunshine here is Tremor, don't let him fool you, under that tough guy act he plays he's actually a big ol' softy," He said, Tremor simply snorted.

He then pointed towards the ice dragon, "This is Koria, the ice guardian, she's the resident kill joy of the group," He said.

Koria shook her head, "Someone has to keep you in line Flame," she commented.

He then moved onto the electric dragon, "And this little social butterfly here is Bolt, what he lacks in bravery he makes up for in intelligence,"he introduced Bolt, the yellow dragon only offering a weak hand wave in response.

However, the mysterious black dragon had yet to be introduced, I went to ask, but Kevin beat me to it, "So who's tall, dark, and angsty over there?" he asked, Kevin I swear to god, if you get us torched I'm blaming you.

The dragon growled slightly, I don't know what his problem was, but he just seemed to really dislike us for some reason. Flame looked to the dragon, "Oh… that's Sol, he's-" Flame began before "Sol" cut him off.

"I have no interest in being buddy buddy with these… things! I'd rather they just left!" He snarled, well hello to you too! The dragon sounded like he was a young adult, early twenties if I were to guess. I don't know why he was so upset we were here, none of us had even met this guy before.

Koria glared at Sol, "Sol! These are our honored guests! A dragon of your lineage should show more decorum than this!" She berated Sol.

However, this seemed to only fan the flames, "NO! I want them gone! NOW!" He snapped.

Okay you gothic iguana, I'm not going to sit here and take your misplaced angst! "Dude! What's your damage?! We haven't even said a word to you and you're acting like we killed your hamster or something!" I snapped, I was not good at hiding my anger, I never liked being mistreated, especially like this!

Sol glared at me, "I didn't ask for your input ape! You wanna know what my "damage" is? Why don't you ask your "mentor" why he abandoned us to create a team of clowns!" Sol snapped before storming off, an awkward silence following afterwards.

Flame finally decided to break the silence, "Right… we'll deal with that… later," he said awkwardly, trying to change the subject, "The Power Rangers have come here with a problem, it seems they've lost their teleportation crystal during an ape attack and need to acquire a new one, they plan on stealing one from the mages," He explained.

The other guardians looked to each other, before turning to us "That's suicide!" said Tremor, "The Power Rangers are too important to risk on such a mission, if that wicked sorceress kills them no one will be left to stop Malefor!" he exclaimed.

Koria seemed to agree, "We can't risk the fate of both worlds on something as insignificant as a crystal," she said.

Insignificant?! Our **world** is in danger! "You've gotta be kidding me! We need to get back! We just barely stopped his first full scale attack on our home before coming here, he isn't going to lick his wounds for long if he finds out we're here and unable to stop him from leveling our city!" I snapped, I wasn't going to lose everything I loved and cared about because of some pompous dragons who decided to play nanny!

However, Koria glared at me, "Do not raise your voice at me human! You're too valuable to risk to recklessly! You may be willing to throw away your life but we are not!" She snapped at me.

However, "A… actually… I may have a solution," stammered Bolt, all eyes were on him which caused him to fidget a little before clarifying, "I… I've been having some sc… scouts study their crystal farms for a month now… I… I found out this morning from their re...reports that s… some patches are less guarded th… than others due to the recent loss of man power due to Malefor's revival and war effort, if we… we sent the Power Rangers to one of those patches, they might be able to overwhelm their guards and acquire a crystal," He suggested.

Tremor thought it over, "That might just work," He said.

However there was a catch of course, "But we'd have to wait until nightfall, since the Sorceress regularly checks on each farm during the day," He explained.

Whatever, I'll take it, a few hours of waiting was much better than an eternity stuck in a foreign world. "Then we wait until nightfall, I'm not leaving anything to chance," I said, "One way or another, we're going to be there to protect our world when Malefor resumes his attacks," I said.

* * *

 _ **Meanwhile…**_

 _ **Malefor's Castle...**_

* * *

I hated waiting, I felt humiliated that the Power Rangers even managed to best me, weakened or not. They were beneath me, but they would pay dearly for this humiliation, but not now, I needed to heal and plan.

However, I heard a commotion outside of my chambers, I rose to my feet, my body ached but I could bear it, I entered the main hall to find a group of mages were surrounding something, "What reason do you have to intrude upon our castle ape?!" I heard Scorn accost someone.

I moved in closer to see a group of apes had somehow found it's way into our hidden fortress, one of them had a teleportation crystal in it's hand, the ape in front noticed me, "Well well, if it isn't our old employer," He said, I had forgotten how vile these creatures were, their hideous faces and pungent smells offended my senses.

I growled, "If you've come here for revenge I can tell you now you will regret it, I've crippled your race before and I could easily do it again," I snarled, I hadn't forgotten how their kind tried to betray me last time, the fools thought themselves conquerors, but were merely brutes with delusions of grandeur

However, "No not revenge, it's been half a century Malefor, it's ancient history," The ape said, "We simply wish to… reestablish our alliance," He offered.

I stormed over to the primate, grabbing him by the throat, "I haven't forgotten how our last "alliance" went! If you think me foolish enough to play into your hands again you are sorely mistaken!" I roared.

The ape was terrified, struggling for air as he squirmed uselessly in my claws, "Wait! Wait! We… we have information!… A...about the Power Rangers!" He squeaked out.

How would he know of the Power Rangers? They were of the human realms weren't they? Intrigued, I let him go, dropping him to the stone floor of the castle, he sputtered and gasped for air before elaborating, "They're in the dragon realms… w… we encountered them in the cheetah village of Avalar, th… that's how we got here… we… we stole a teleportation crystal from one of their satchels…" He explained between gasps.

They were in the Dragon Realms? For what reason I had no clue, possibly in search of allies, however with their crystal gone, they were no doubt trapped in the Dragon Realms. But I knew better than to think they wouldn't find another eventually, they were a tenacious bunch, I turned to Scorn, "Warn The Sorceress, no doubt they will attempt to raid her farms for crystals," I instructed the wolf mage, he bowed before going off to do just that.

I then turned my attention to the apes, "You wish for an alliance apes, for what reason should I believe you won't betray me again?" I asked the ape, I knew these vile creatures more than anyone, they were a cutthroat lot, always looking for a path to power.

The ape coughed as he rose to his feet, "W… we barely survived our encounter with the Power Rangers… if they defeat you no doubt we're next… besides… we've gotta be better than your grublins right?" He said.

He had a point, the Grublins were practically useless against the Power Rangers, and were an unnecessary drain on my already dwindled power, with the apes in their place I would be free to regain my power more naturally, "Fine, however if you attempt to betray me again, a curse on your kind will be the **least** of your worries," I threatened him, the apes quivered, but agreed. "Now go… return to your realm and bring your armies," I ordered them, the bumbling baboons left in a hurry.

I turned to Rikor, "I want you and Scorn to keep an eye on them, if they show any signs of dissension, I want you to stomp it out! Is that understood?" I asked the bumbling lizard, Rikor nodded

For now I'd work with the apes, but I knew I would have to… humble them at some point, they were strong creatures but not too bright, I doubt they'd learn from their past mistakes… but I had a means of dealing with them, for now, the Power Rangers were my top concern…

* * *

 _ **Meanwhile…**_

 _ **Dragon Temple, Warfang…**_

* * *

We had decided to pass the time before we set out on our mission to train, the guardians offered us their dojo to practice in, Dylan agreed and well, here we were.

The Dragon Dojo was unlike any gym I'd been too, I doubt there was a gym in the human realms that had magical, living training dummies. I don't know how in the hell they got those things to move on their own but they did, and not once did it ever stop being weird.

But I had to admit, it did help me sharpen my fighting skills, having a sparring partner I couldn't actually hurt. I never really fancied myself a fighter before becoming the green ranger, but after a while of fighting Grublins and other monsters as a Power Ranger I was beginning to pick up on some of the moves my ranger form planted in my head, man was that weird once you really stopped to think about it.

The training dummy I was sparring with suddenly got me with a sweep to the leg, sending me to the ground, causing Kevin to laugh, "Dude, you just got schooled by a living sack of twigs and straw," he laughed.

I got back to my feet, "Whatever man, it just caught me off guard is all," I said, the dummy just stood there, waiting for me to resume, however I felt myself tiring a bit, "Why don't you take it on tough guy? See how well you do," I challenged Kevin.

Kevin shrugged, "Alright," he said before taking my place, sparring with the training dummy, as I went to the corner of the room to take a breather, I noticed someone watching us from the doorway, it was that black dragon from earlier, what was his name again? "Sol"?

The dude seemed lost in thought as he watched Kevin spar with the dummy, I decided to approach, seeing if I could pick his brain a bit, "Hey dude, what's up?" I greeted.

Sol seemed startled, but quickly collected himself, turning his emerald gaze to me, "I don't want to talk to you," he growled.

I shook my head, "Come on man, don't be like that, we're all on the same side here, there's no need to be so hostile," I said, I didn't really get what Sol's problem was, every other dragon here seemed quite friendly, which admittedly was kind of ironic giving how dragons are usually portrayed in media and folklore. But for some reason, Sol seemed to be the only one who had a problem with us. "Come on man, what's on your mind?" I asked, I knew if I could just get him to talk to me I could get him to warm up to us a bit more.

Sol sighed, "It's not you specifically, it's who created you," He said, this only confused me more. It seemed his issue **wasn't** with us, but our "creator" I guess he meant Spyro, but why he would have an issue with **him** I had no clue. Maybe he felt that Spyro abandoned his world to the mercy of the apes? That was my only guess. However, Sol turned to me, "Tell me… what is he like? The purple dragon?" He suddenly asked me.

What a weird question, it seemed to come out of nowhere, but I tried to answer as best I could, "He's a cool dude, a bit protective sometimes, but he does his best, he even reaches out to us when we're down," I said, recalling the time Spyro talked to me when I was bummed about being beaten by Bianca.

Sol seemed to take a while to digest the answer I gave him, "Did he ever mention having family? A mate?" He asked, another strange question.

I shook my head, "No… he never really talks about his life before summoning us really," I admitted, it seemed kinda weird we never really got to **know** Spyro that well, he seemed oddly tight lipped about his life, but then again, I knew better than to butt myself into someone's personal life.

Sol closed his eyes, "Of course," he said rather flatly before suddenly leaving. I didn't really know what to think of that interaction, I mean, at least I got him to talk to me, that had to count for something.

"Dean!"

I turned to see Zenith standing behind me, "Nightfall is fast approaching, we should make preparations," he said. I noticed through the other doorway that the light outside was beginning to dim, meaning we needed to get ready for our little raid of The Sorceress' crystal patch.

* * *

 _ **Later…**_

* * *

We all gathered in the Guardian's chambers, Dylan and Flame going over the game plan, I was a bit nervous I admit, but I knew we'd have to bring our A-game if we were going to get that crystal. Flame was going to take us to Bolt's scouts who would lead us to the patch they found.

Flame insisted we ride on his back and he fly us there, claiming it would take less time than going on foot. Of course there was concern the weight of all five of us would be too much for the aging fire dragon to carry, but he insisted he could take it.

We all got on, and as soon as we were all sat on his back, he took off, trying to simply stay on the thing was a struggle, as it was very clear Flame wasn't used to passengers.

However I must admit, riding on a dragon was awesome! Man I loved being a Power Ranger sometimes. I watched as the scenery passed us by, we weren't flying **too** high, I guess Flame was trying to make us less noticeable by hanging low and sticking to the trees as much as he could. Although the latter resulted in a few of us getting whacked by tree branches, thankfully none of them causing anyone to fall off, but that didn't make it any more pleasant.

Finally, Flame took us in for a landing, where two armored moles were waiting for us. Flame landed softly on the grass, "Alright Power Rangers, this is your stop," He said, lowering himself so we could get off, after we did so, he wished us luck and flew off, leaving us with the two moles.

The moles lead us to the crystal farm, stopping at a nearby shrubbery, "So those are the crystals we need?" Jess asked.

"Yes," One of the moles answered, "But you need to grab one of the glowing ones, The Sorceress enchants the crystals gradually over time, so the brighter it glows, the more magic it has," he then explained.

I did notice a few of them were dimmer than others, "She gathers very specific crystals, ones capable of holding the magic she stores in them," the other mole explained. I also saw the mages that were currently guarding them, there were about five at most, although with how dark it was coupled with the fact they were all wearing black made it difficult to make them out.

Dylan stood up, "Well then, shall we?" He asked, readying his morpher.

We all nodded, getting ready to morph, " _ **It's morphin' time!**_ " Dylan shouted.

" _ **Legendary Dragon! Power of Red Fire!"**_

" _ **Legendary Dragon! Power of Blue Ice!"**_

" _ **Legendary Dragon! Power of Green Earth!"**_

" _ **Legendary Dragon! Power of Yellow Electricity!"**_

" _ **Legendary Dragon! Power of the Purple Dragon!"**_

We all leaped out from the bushes, doing a flip in the air before landing in front of the rather surprised mages, "Okay guys, we need one of those crystals you're guarding, you can either give them up or we do this the hard way, what do you say?" Dylan asked them.

The mages instantly went on the offensive, "Well you got your answer Dylan!" Kevin said before kicking one of the mages in the head, sending him flipping in the air before landing on the ground.

The mage I was fighting was trying to get me with magic blasts, but I was too quick for him, dodging each shot, "Come on man! I dodge defenders on the football field every Friday night!" I began before nailing him right in the head with a thrust kick, "You really think you can hit me with your lame magic shots?" I finished, the goon had no response save for a pained groan.

I looked to see Zenith dealing with his own goon, knocking him down with a crushing roundhouse kick, "Quit fooling around Dean! Get one of those crystals so we can get out of here!" He barked at me.

Zenith really needed to learn to be a team player, but I did as he said, finding a particularly bright crystal, "This one will do," I said as I reached for it.

However, before I could grab it, I felt something really hard hit me in the stomach, I flew backwards, tumbling across the ground before managing to catch myself. When I managed to pick myself up, I saw an all too familiar canine face greet me.

"Power Rangers..." Said Scorn, "We must stop meeting like this," He quipped, he was flanked on both sides by more mages, "Keep them away from the crystals! They must not be allowed to return to the human realms!" he ordered the mages.

Scorn quickly lunged at me, I summoned my ax as quickly as I could, just barely managing to block his sword, "Scorn?! What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be crying about losing to us for the fiftieth time?" I said.

Scorn kicked me to the ground again, "The apes told us of your little trip to the Dragon Realms, I'm here to make sure it's your… permanent resting place!" Scorn growled before trying to stab me, but I managed to roll myself out of the way in time.

Suddenly Scorn found himself struck by Zenith's weird purple lightening, what did he call it? "Aether"? "You came in vain wolf! You won't stop us!" Said Zenith.

Scorn got up, a wicked smirk on his face, "So this is why you came here? You've managed to pick yourself up a little friend!" He sneered, "It matters not, he will die with the rest of you!" He snarled before swinging at us with his sword.

Zenith and I tried to defend ourselves, but it seemed even Zenith had a hard time keeping up with Scorn's swordplay, as he managed to catch Zenith with a slash to the chest, sparks exploded as the cheetah warrior fell to the ground. "How easily you fall! A shame your time as a ranger must be cut so short!" He said before trying to stab poor Zenith through the chest.

Thinking quickly, I kicked Scorn's blade right out of his hands, "Forget it Scorn! You aren't picking off any of **my** friends while **I'm** around!" I said, taking full advantage of him being unarmed, slashing him twice in the chest with my ax. Scorn tumbled across the ground before managing to catch himself.

An audible growl was heard from the wolf mage as he clutched his chest, "Don't get cocky green ranger! You'll all die here eventually!" He growled.

I took the opportunity to help Zenith to his feet, "You okay dude?" I asked the feline power ranger as I helped him up.

Zenith nodded, "Yes," he said, although his tone seemed uncertain, like he wasn't expecting me to save him.

I shook it off, "Come on! Let's take wolf boy down a peg!" I said, pumping my fist, Zenith and I both took fighting stances.

Scorn growled, "The only ones getting taken down today are YOU!" He yelled before launching himself at us like a lion on a kill, slashing at his with his claws, managing to get me in the chest, however Zenith managed to catch him with a knee to the gut, causing Scorn to stumble back.

I quickly capitalized, nailing him with a jumping drop kick, knocking him to the ground. Scorn quickly got back up, throwing a few kicks of his own, but I managed to block a few. Zenith cocked his fist back as it crackled with Aether, " _ **AETHER KNUCKLE!**_ " He called out, he then nailed Scorn right in the kisser with his Aether charged fist, sending him flying backwards a good ten yards.

Scorn slowly got up, as the other rangers joined our side, "Give up Scorn! You've lost again!" I said.

However, Scorn quickly snatched a crystal from it's place, "That's what you think Power Rangers! Without **this** you have no chance of returning home! The other crystals in this patch don't have nearly enough charge to get you all back to your precious mentor!" He growled, I looked to the patch and he was right, the other crystals were rather dim looking, and the only one with a decent amount of charge was currently in Scorn's hands, poised to be broken over his knee.

I had to think fast, I dug my hand into the ground, "Think fast!" I said before a wave of rock came careening towards Scorn before hitting him flush, knocking the crystal from his hands as he fell to the ground.

I quickly rushed to catch it, managing to snag it before it managed to hit the ground, "Dean Mack with the crucial catch!" I quipped to myself.

Scorn got back to his feet, "You win this time Power Rangers! But next time we meet! You will all perish!" He growled before doing his vanishing act again.

I looked to the crystal in my hand, "You always say that man but you never deliver," I chuckled.

The others joined me, cheering and celebrating, another victory for the Dragon Legend Power Rangers!

* * *

 _ **Later…**_

* * *

We all unmorphed and gathered around, telling Spyro through our morphers about our encounter, "Good work rangers, you managed to turn a potentially bad situation around and completed your task of finding the fifth morpher to boot," said the purple dragon. "Your work in the Dragon Realms is done for now, return to the temple," He then instructed us.

We got set to do just that when suddenly…

"So you really **are** still alive"

We all turned to see Sol had somehow found us, how the hell did he **find** us? More importantly, **why** did he follow us here? Spyro himself seemed quite confused, "I… I'm sorry… do I know you?" he asked in confusion.

Sol glared at the hologram of our mentor, seething hatred in his eyes, "You mean you don't recognize me purple dragon? You don't see **her** in me?" he spat, none of us knew what to do, just sort of standing to the side as the black dragon glared at the holographic dragon.

Spyro shook off his confusion, "Look, I don't know who you are or who you think I am, but I've never seen you in my life!" He snapped.

This only made Sol growl, "I should have figured you wouldn't… you didn't care about me or my mother! Only about creating your stupid little Power Rangers!" He snarled, no one dared utter a word, not sure what would happen if we tried to step in. "What do you have to say for yourself Purple Dragon?" Inquired Sol.

"Or… should I call you… father?"

* * *

 **A/N: DUN DUN DUUUUUH! Looks like Spyro left more behind in the Dragon Realms than he thought! The title of the chapter makes a lot more sense now doesn't it?**

 **What does this mean for our heroes? Well you'll just have to wait and see won't you?**


	11. Sins of Thy Father

**Chapter 10: Sins of Thy Father**

* * *

We all stood there in shocked silence, Spyro had a kid?! How? He was frozen for decades! Worse yet it seemed Sol wasn't the biggest fan of dear ol' dad as he seemed poised to reach through the hologram and strangle his dad across dimensions! The other rangers and I had no idea what to do, or even if we **should** do anything.

Sol just sort of glared at Spyro, an awkward silence hung in the air for an uncomfortable twenty seconds, however, "I… I had a son?" Spyro suddenly said, more to himself than anyone else. He seemed stunned by the revelation, almost horrified even.

Sol's expression darkened, "I knew if I followed Flame and the Power Rangers I'd get the chance to finally confront you," he said, "I've waited so long… so many years wondering why the great purple dragon would abandon his own family," he added.

Sol began to draw closer and closer to the hologram, "Mom was devastated when you left… she always tried to hide it but I could see the hurt in her eyes whenever I asked her who my dad was, it's why she disappeared you know, she went looking for you… if only she know you abandoned us to create **them**!" He said cocking his head towards us.

He then slowly craned his head in our direction, I could see the hatred in his eyes, I felt myself tense up, as I knew what he was about to do, "You ruined our lives to make this team of yours, well now… you get to watch it END!" He roared, he then unleashed some kind of sonic scream, knocking all of us off our feet.

I got back to my feet, I could see it in Sol's eyes he wanted a fight, "Sol! Don't do this!" said Dean, I could tell reasoning with him wasn't going to get us far, this hatred had been building all his life, and now he was about to unleash it all.

Sol took an aggressive pose, "Father destroyed our family to create you, now I'm taking it all back! By taking you all down! Let's see how great father's precious Power Rangers really are!" He growled.

This was ridiculous! He was seriously going to doom both worlds because daddy didn't wuv him enough. "You wanna fight? You've got one!" I said, getting ready to morph, I wasn't going to sit here and be whiny boy's example!

"Dylan no!"

I froze at the sound of Spyro's voice, "Do not fight him! Let me handle this!" He ordered me. I didn't know what he was getting at, Sol was going to kill us! We had to fight back! "Sol I know you're angry with me, you have every right to be, but please, this is bigger than you and me," He said, trying to plead with his disappointment of a son.

However, Sol seemed unconcerned with the fate of the world, "Of course it is, all you care about is stopping Malefor! Why should you care about the family you abandoned!" He growled, I guess petty grudges outrank the world ending in terms of importance to Sol.

Spyro just had a blank expression on his face, like he wasn't even sure how to proceed here, "Sol… I-" He started, however before he could continue, everything suddenly went white.

When the light faded, we were back in the temple, none of us even knew what happened until, "I'm sorry man! I… I panicked!" said Dean, he must have activated the teleportation crystal by accident somehow, at least he landed us back in the temple.

But with one problem, "Where the hell are we?" asked Sol, it seems in his panic, Dean brought Sol along for the ride. I don't know if this was a good or bad thing considering his current daddy issues. He turned angrily towards Dean, "What did you DO?!" He growled.

Kevin looked to Dean, "Nice one Dean! You just brought Spyro's jerk son to the Dragon Temple!" Kevin accosted Dean.

Sol didn't seem to pay much mind to the "jerk son" comment from Kevin, as he seemed far more worried about the "brought to the Dragon Temple" part. I mean, I can't blame him, I'm pretty sure dimension hopping wasn't a part of his "confront my dad" plan.

Spyro soon joined us in the room, Sol being sure to break himself from his panic to shoot his dad a death glare. Spyro ignored this, as he sighed in relief upon seeing us, "You guys scared me for a moment, you just suddenly disappeared and I thought the worst," He said.

Dean threw his hands up, "Dude I freaked okay?! Sol was screaming his head off, I thought we'd never be able to get home, and then poof! We zapped back here!" Dean tried to explain himself.

Spyro looked to Sol, "Yes, I understand Dean, my son and I apparently have much to discuss," he said in a flat tone, Sol simply growling in response, Spyro then turned to us, "Considering what you five have been through today, I think it might be good for you to take this moment to rest a bit before heading back to New Harmony," He said, I could tell he was just trying to get rid of us so he could talk down his son, make him a bit less… let's just say "moody". So we all dispersed.

Kevin and I decided to hang around each other for a bit, "Man, and I thought **I** had issues with **my** dad," Kevin commented.

I shook my head, "Dude's a mental case, he should be thankful he even **has** a dad," I said, Kevin instantly grew uncomfortable, knowing exactly what I meant by that.

Kevin put a hand on my shoulder, "Dude, are **you** going to be okay?" He asked me, I guess I felt like Sol was taking for granted something I would have been thrilled to find out, that my dad was still around. But I knew better, I knew that I wasn't so lucky…

It did make me wonder though… Sol said his mother disappeared years ago, could she still be out there somewhere? I mean, it was very possible she was dead, but something in my gut told me there was more to it than that. "Hey Kev, you think it's possible Sol's mother's still alive?" I asked.

Kevin clearly wasn't expecting the question, but realized I kinda wanted to change the subject so answered anyway, "I dunno man, it's possible, depends on how long ago she bailed I guess," He answered. I guess I figured if we found Sol's mom it would make him less angry, having him in the temple being all angry with Spyro would no doubt hurt our productivity as Power Rangers, but on the other hand, it was more than that… I guess I sympathized with Sol a lot more than I thought, I knew what it was like to lose a parent, and if dad were somehow out there, I'd want someone to find him too. "If she's out there Dylan, I have a feeling we'll find her at some point, with all our dealings with Malefor she's bound to find **us** eventually, given she's still out there," Kevin suggested.

He had a point, we were kinda hard to miss what with all the explosions and giant Kaiju battles, I guess we'd just have to keep going as usual… just keep on keeping on.

However, before more could be said, suddenly some kind of alarm went off, I'm guessing this was how Spyro knew things on earth were going screwy. Kevin and I both rushed to the main room, soon enough we found the others, Sol included for some reason, all gathered around the Pool of Visions. There we saw… apes? Yup, apes were attacking the New Harmony Zoo, how ironic. "Apes? What are **they** doing in New Harmony?" I questioned.

Spyro shook his head, "Malefor must have re-aligned himself with the apes and sent them to the human realms," Spyro theorized. Well he certainly didn't waste any time did he? He must have thought we'd be stuck in the Dragon Realms and decided to have his apes mess with the city in our absence.

We all stood together, "Alright guys! **It's morphin' time**!" I called out, after all the madness we've had to deal with today, punching some monkeys sounded divine.

" _ **Legendary Dragon! Power of Red Fire!"**_

" _ **Legendary Dragon! Power of Blue Ice!"**_

" _ **Legendary Dragon! Power of Yellow Electricity!"**_

" _ **Legendary Dragon! Power of the Purple Dragon!"**_

We soon teleported to the New Harmony Zoo, man it felt good to be home, but we had monkeys to deal with, we all flipped in the air, landing on the ground in front of the rampaging primates, "Alright apes! Fun's over!" I said, the apes turned to us for a moment before launching themselves at us.

I couldn't react in time to get out of the way, the ape tackling me to the ground, both of us rolled around, but I managed to toss the monkey off me, sending him into a garbage bin, "Now that's what I call taking out the trash!" I said, god that was lame, but hey, if I'm going to fight apes in bright red spandex, I might as well have fun with it right?

Another ape launched himself at me, I managed to see it coming this time and scored a huge roundhouse kick to the base of it's skull, sending it flying into one of his buddies. I then heard something bounce in front of me, I looked down to see a stick of dynamite of all things, what was this? A Bugs Bunny cartoon? I managed to backflip out of the way in time before the dynamite blew up. "Alright banana breath! You wanna play with fire? Let's play with **fire**!" I said before drawing my Sword of Flame, " _ **FIRE SLASH!**_ " I called out, before slashing my sword, sending a wave of fire right at a group of apes, sending them flying back.

* * *

 _ **Meanwhile…**_

* * *

It felt so weird watching the rangers in action, they were effective to say the least, but yet I found it almost impossible for me to let go of the anger I felt towards them for what their creation had done to my family, to my world. "Impressive aren't they?" said Father.

I just glared at him, still not willing to forgive him for what he did. Father sighed, "Sol, I understand why you're angry, like I said before, you have every right to be angry, but I want you to understand something," He said, I didn't care what sort of speech he had waiting for me, he still abandoned me and mom, so he could take his speeches and shove it. "I didn't enjoy leaving Cynder, it was one of the hardest decisions I've ever had to make," He explained, oh I bet it was. "But sometimes, we need to sacrifice what's most important to us, so we can protect them," He continued, "I created the Power Rangers because I wanted the Human Realms to have a fighting chance, but I also created them to keep our world safe as well, I'm not as young as I once was, and the last thing I ever wanted to risk, was not being able to protect your mother," He said.

I shook my head, "If you wanted to protect mom you should have stayed!" I snapped. He was so full of himself, it was sickening! Acting like he was the only one hurt by his decision! Our whole **world** suffered to create his precious Power Rangers!

Father sighed, "It's not that simple Sol," he said, "I would have loved nothing more than to have stayed with your mother, and raise you like a father should, but sometimes, we have to give up the things we want the most to do what is right," he said before approaching me, coming face to face with me, "You need to let go of your hatred Sol, I know Cynder well enough to know that she would raise you better than this, to almost condemn an entire world for the sake of your broken heart isn't something she would tolerate, and neither will I," He scolded me.

That did it! "You don't get to talk about what mom would think!" I snapped, father had no reaction, just glaring at me, but I didn't care, he wasn't going to pretend he had the moral high ground here! "You lost your right to play moral superior when you left! You threw your entire family away, and for what? A world you didn't even know anything about?! To pick up some spoiled humans and give them super powers?! Your "duty" was to **us** father! Not them!" I snapped.

Father's eyes began to flare with anger, "THAT'S ENOUGH SOL!" he snapped, "I was willing to forgive your actions before because I believed you had the right to be angry with me! But **they** have done **nothing** to you!" He roared, "You think them spoiled Sol? Each one of them has struggled their whole lives, Kevin's family is in shambles, barely hanging by a thread, Jess endures constant mocking from her peers, Dean struggles to simply gain his father's affection, and Dylan has lost his father and struggles just to support his widowed mother!" He growled, I just cowered back, caught completely off guard by father's outburst, "But despite all of their pain however, they still all agreed to lay it all on the line to fight for their world and ours! Because **that** is what heroes do Sol! We sacrifice the things we love the most to spare others from suffering! If you can't understand that, you have no right to call yourself my son!" He roared.

Father took a deep breath, calming himself down, "I'm sorry I left you and your mother, I truly am, but I will not sit here and let you take it out on a group of people who just want to do the right thing," He said before turning his back to me, watching the Power Rangers fight.

I looked to the ground, how was I to know how much the rangers had lost? I then left the room, I had a lot of things to think over…

* * *

 _ **Meanwhile…**_

 _ **Malefor's Castle…**_

* * *

So… it seemed the Power Rangers had somehow managed to return to their world, and naturally, those hapless apes were struggling to fight them off. I turned to the apes, their general Grave had arrived a little while ago, "Allow me Lord Malefor, I'll crush the Power Rangers!" He said.

I shook my head, "Your men have told me of your last battle with the rangers Grave," I said, however I needed something to change the tide of battle and we had no time to make a monster, "Tell me general, how do you feel about… growth potions?" I asked, Grave simply gave me a confused look, unsure of my meaning, but Scorn knew exactly what I meant, as he produced the potion from his robe.

* * *

 _ **Meanwhile…**_

 _ **Back at the Zoo…**_

* * *

You know, I'm not entirely sure why Malefor would sub out his Grublins for these losers, they were just about as effective. The five of us stood tall over the pile of beaten apes on the floor, "Well, I guess that's that then," I said.

Suddenly there was a rumbling, "You'd think that, wouldn't you Power Rangers?" we heard a familiar voice say, we all looked behind us to see Grave, only now he was giant sized! "Let's see you blast me now you lesser primates!" He laughed, he was aware that Zenith was a cheetah right?

No time to correct dumb apes, as we all just barely managed to dodge a stomping attempt by Grave. "We need Legendary Dragon Zord power NOW!" I called, no way we could take this dude on foot!

However, Zenith looked confused for some reason, "Legendary what now?" He questioned, oh crap, it seemed that Zenith wasn't too familiar with the concept of Zords, it only dawned on me now that, given the nature of how Zenith got his ranger powers, he probably didn't have a zord.

However I wouldn't have to explain as our zords came flying in. Each of us human rangers leaped into our mechanized dragons, the zords began to click together to form the Legendary Dragon Megazord! It seemed that Jess' zord had been repaired after the damage it took in our fight with Malefor as it easily reformed the arm it usually did.

All four of us sat in the cockpit of the Mega Zord, "Alright rangers! Let's send this overgrown monkey packing!" I said. Grave however suddenly launched himself right at us, tackling the Mega Zord to the ground. We both rolled a good couple of feet, flattening a few buildings in the process, again, I really hope these buildings we keep accidentally smashing didn't have people in them or… yikes…

We managed to throw him off however, but Grave was right back on the attack, "You dumb humans think that overgrown toy can beat ME?!" He said as he began to scratch and claw wildly at the Mega Zord, sparks flew everywhere as we struggled to just to stay in our seats!

Kevin had to grab onto his control console just to keep himself from flying out of his chair, "This is bad! This guy is way too fast for our Mega Zord to keep up!" He said. Unfortunately, he was right, as powerful as the Mega Zord was, it was also still a giant robot, and giant robots were also kind of slow, slow enough for this ape to get an advantage… dammit! We needed something, ANYTHING to turn the tides here!

* * *

 _ **Meanwhile…**_

 _ **Ground Level…**_

* * *

Things were not going well, the other rangers were losing the fight! Not even their giant metal man could hope to best Grave's manic onslaught! I felt so useless standing here without a Zord of my own to call! If only I had one, we could possibly turn the tide of this battle! But I didn't have a Zord, I didn't even know they existed before now!

However, I noticed something in the distance, a black speck flying through the air right at Grave, at first I thought it was my eyes playing tricks on me, but upon further inspection, I saw that it was a dragon, it was Sol! What was **he** doing here?

The dragon slammed into the ape general's back, horns first, causing him to cry out as he fell off the MegaZord. What in the name of the Ancestors was happening here? I thought Sol hated us? Why would he come out here to help us?

* * *

 _ **Meanwhile…**_

 _ **Back in the Mega Zord…**_

* * *

Something had managed to knock Grave off of us, it was only after the giant ape fell did we see a sight none of us expected, it was Sol! "Sol? What's going on? What are you doing here?" I asked as the Mega Zord began to rise to it's feet.

Sol looked off to the side, "I… I was wrong… about you guys, father was right, you did nothing to me, I had no right to take my anger out on you, I'm hoping that by helping you, you can find it within yourselves to forgive me," He said.

It seemed Spyro's son had done some soul searching since the last time we saw him. "Don't worry about it Sol, no hard feelings," I said, Sol seemed surprised we were so quick to forgive him.

He fumbled a bit, "B...But I was going to strand you in my world! I threatened your lives! How can you be so forgiving?!" He questioned.

I shook my head, "I'd be a hypocrite if I got on your case for being quick to anger dude," I said, "But that doesn't matter right now, we have a monkey to crush!" I said, grabbing hold of the Mega Zord controls. " _ **Legendary Dragon Sword Mega Sword!**_ " I called as the giant blade landed next to us. "Let's end this!" I said as the sword began to charge with it's signature purple energy.

However, suddenly Sol latched himself onto the blade, "DUDE! What are you doing?!" Kevin protested, at first I was worried Sol had changed his mind but suddenly he began to glow with the same purple energy, he was powering up our sword!

The sword sparked and cracked with even **stronger** purple energy! "ALRIGHT!" Dean exclaimed, "Now **that's** what I call Legendary Power!" He added, I said nothing, simply bringing the sword down on Grave, the pure energy from the slash cut the ape general in two, sparks flew through the air like a Fourth of July fireworks display, the remains of the ape general exploded in a burst of purple energy.

The inside of the Mega Zord erupted in celebration, talk about a welcome home right? "Alright guys, let's head back," I said triumphantly.

* * *

 _ **Later…**_

 _ **Dragon Temple…**_

* * *

We all returned to the temple, Sol in tow, to find a rather upset Spyro waiting for us, "Sol why did you run off?! You could have gotten killed out there!" he snapped.

I shook my head, "He saved our lives out there Spyro, cut the kid a break," I said, I couldn't believe I was coming to Sol's defense, but he **did** save our bacon back there, and I was grateful for that.

Spyro grumbled, Sol approached his father, "Dad, I… you were right… I needed to put others before myself, that's why I did it, these rangers… they're just trying to protect their home, I couldn't just sit there and watch them die, it wasn't right," He said.

Spyro suddenly grew a little smile, "I'm proud of you son," he suddenly said, catching Sol off guard, "You put the lives of others before your own, just like your mother and I would have done," He said, Spyro began to curl his neck around Sol's, the dragon equivalent of a hug I assume.

To say today had been a weird day would be an understatement, we traveled to another world, got a fifth ranger, discovered Spyro's long lost son, and somehow through it all, Sol managed to find it within himself to forgive his father, and us, for what he'd gone through…

All and all, I guess you could count it all as another win for the Dragon Legend Power Rangers…

* * *

 **A/N: I TOLD you I was still going to write this thing! But you didn't believe me! Did YOU?! My updates with this story probably won't be very consistent however, I still have Legend of Spider-Man, and I've been toying with a straight up Spyro story I've been wanting to write as well, so updates for this will probably be a bit sporadic.**

 **I just couldn't leave this on a cliffhanger anymore, it annoyed me.**


	12. Some Bonding Time

**Chapter 11: Some Bonding Time**

* * *

 _ **Fox Residence, Early Morning...**_

* * *

The Human Realms were a strange place indeed, everything from the huts to the air itself felt… wrong. I know it's a different realm entirely from the one I lived in, but still… the change was quite jarring.

This was not helped by the other rangers insistence that I needed to be hidden. They claimed creatures like myself didn't exist in their realm, and that my appearance would apparently be startling to the other humans. This is ignoring the fact that the same could have been said for them and my realm but that didn't stop **them** from parading themselves out in the open.

I hated the idea of hiding myself, as if I were ashamed of my cheetah heritage, I was a proud cheetah of Avalar, but the other rangers and even Spyro insisted I hide myself anyway, like some freak. So now I found myself at Jessica's home, she had explained her father was a cop (some form of law enforcement I gather) and thus was rarely home, however she insisted I disguise myself in human realm clothing.

A cheetah's robes were a symbol of pride and honor among the villages of Avalar, but of course Jessica was human and didn't understand the significance of my garments, and demanded I wear these uncomfortable clothes, a purple top with a hood to hide my face that crushed my ears and felt uncomfortable against my fur, and a pair of blue tight "jeans" as Jess called them, which restricted my leg movements and crushed my tail. But the worst were the shoes, my paws were squished into them, and I couldn't feel the ground beneath my feet anymore. How do humans wear such garments without losing their minds?! They are either far more adaptable than I gave them credit for, or they are simply mad. Neither would surprise me at this point.

However the point still stood, I did not wish to wear these clothes any longer than I had to, "Jessica, must I wear these? I feel so… restricted," I said as Jessica looked me over, possibly checking to see if I could pass myself off as a human.

Jessica cracked a little smile, "Well if you're going to blend into modern society, we need to hide your… feline qualities," she explained, did she realize how racist that sounded? I doubt she meant it like that though, Jessica didn't seem the type. She was a gentle soul, a bit timid, somewhat cowardly, but well meaning. "Look, I know hiding yourself like this is probably killing you inside, but we just want to avoid you causing a panic," she explained. I hardly found my appearance worthy of causing **that** much terror in her realm.

I shook my head, "I feel like I'm rejecting my heritage, something I was bread to take pride in back at the village, an Avalar cheetah, strong and proud! But yet you and your friends insist I pretend to be human? To hide my lineage?" I tried to explain, this wasn't just a case of me being uncomfortable, it was a matter of pride, I was not ashamed of my cheetah lineage, I hated hiding it, regardless of how necessary these humans insisted it was.

Jessica however shook her head, "You're not, you're still just as fuzzy underneath that hood as you were before, we just… Spyro insists our status as rangers needs to be secret, and we can't do that with a six foot cat man following us around," she explained.

That was another thing I didn't understand, Spyro's insistence we needed to keep our identities as Power Rangers secret, it seemed pointless, being a Power Ranger is something we should take pride in, strong warriors who fight to protect the world! Maybe it was the Avalarian in me, but all these secrets and deception didn't sit well with me. Perhaps these humans had more in common with the apes than just appearance? As they seemed to be just as fond of deceit as the apes were.

Jessica then grabbed me by the arm, "So stop being such a big baby and let's get going, we're meeting up with Dylan and the others at the mall today," she said, I did not appreciate being compared to an infant, it implied I was being childish, ignorant, when it was arguably **them** who were being ignorant.

However, I did have a question, "What is a "mall"?" I asked, I had never heard of such a term before, this was sadly very common, these humans threw so many strange words at me, " _Wifi_ ", " _Internet", "_ _Hashtags"_ , this world was so strange, so different from the Dragon Realms.

Jessica lead me out of the backyard and onto the concrete footpath, what did she call them again? " _Sidewalks_ "? "It's like… a building with a lot of stores in it, you'll see when we get there," She explained, so it was a market? Then why not just _call_ it a market?! These humans… they were such maddening creatures sometimes!

I shook it off, "So why are we meeting with the others there? Discussing strategies? Planning attacks?" I asked.

However Jessica for some reason, just laughed, as if my suggestions were silly, "We're just going to hang out Zen, we've been through a lot lately, we could use some downtime," she explained.

I blinked, this was ridiculous! Malefor was out there right now, possibly planning his next attack, and we were going to waste time… **socializing**?! I had always feared the other rangers didn't take this war as seriously as I, but this just **confirmed** it! "We don't have time for socializing! Malefor could destroy this entire world any minute! We need to keep focus! Plan our next move!" I argued, this was madness!

Jessica however, "And **that** is exactly why you need this, you need to loosen up a little, look at you, you're all stressed out, would having a little fun be so bad?" she asked me. Fun? I had no time for "fun"! I was a warrior! Born and raised to defend my homeland! Not waste my time socializing in a world I barely understood!

However it was clear Jessica was not listening, she seemed to be of the mind that I was too uptight, that I needed to relax, as if the threat of both our worlds being destroyed wasn't looming over our heads every waking hour! "Come on Zen, humor me a little," she pleaded, I growled, we soon arrived at this "mall", it was huge! About the same size as the great Dragon Temple! Who would need a marketplace so large?! This world, these humans, they made **no** sense to me! Their priorities seemed confused, putting such effort into the frivolous, and so little in what was necessary! It was as if the world were flipped on it's head!

The building became even more impressive after we entered, the "mall" was so lavish, with tiled floors and large banners hanging from the ceiling, I could smell foods cooking in the distance, bright lights and complex decorum littered these hallowed halls, it was almost overwhelming. These humans certainly liked to show off how "advanced" their society was. It bordered on being arrogant.

Eventually we found the other three rangers, sitting at a table, Kevin was the first to see us, he ran his blue eyes up and down my form, "Not bad Jess, he could **almost** pass off as a fursuiter," he said, what in the name of the Ancestors is a "fursuiter"?

We both sat at the table, I cannot believe we are doing this, wasting precious time on such decadent frivolity when we could be preparing ourselves for Malefor and his forces! "Dude why so down man?" asked Dean, "You look like you're about to punch a wall or something," He added.

I stared daggers at the green ranger, "This is seriously what we are doing right now? I told you before I wasn't interested in making friends, both of our worlds are at risk and you want to waste time socializing?" I said, I wasn't going to hide my annoyance with my fellow Power Rangers, it was as if they didn't take their roles seriously! We were mighty warriors meant to protect two worlds! Not some… social club!

Dylan put a hand on my shoulder, "Relax dude, if Malefor launches an attack, we'll be right there to stop it, but right now, with all the chaos lately, I think we all need some times to unwind, you especially it seems," he explained. Again with this?! I do not need to "unwind"! I need to get a team who takes their duties seriously!

Kevin nodded in agreement, "Come on Zen, your buddies in Avalar had to have **some** downtime right?" He asked, why do they keep shortening my name to "Zen"? My name was Zenith!

I glared at him, "We are proud warriors in Avalar Kevin, we do not waste time when there is a war! How can you four be so calm when your world is in danger?" I asked, these humans… they didn't seem to have any sense of urgency or duty, it was as if being a Power Ranger to them was just some hobby or side job.

Dylan blinked, "Come on dude, maybe **you** don't think you need to take a break, but you do, I'm the leader here, and I say we have some time to relax, okay?" He said, Dylan abusing his role as leader didn't shock me, he seemed to lack any understanding of the concept of leadership.

But it was clear I was fighting a losing battle, these four wouldn't listen to reason. So I found myself with little choice but to indulge them. Hopefully if Malefor levels their city again they'll finally understand the importance of focus? "Fine, I'll play along for now, but you four really need to learn the meaning of "duty"," I said.

I was going to regret this… wasn't I?

* * *

 _ **Meanwhile…**_

 _ **Dragon Temple…**_

* * *

It seemed that the rangers were having some trouble getting Zenith to agree to take a break, I expected as much, the poor cheetah was so stuck in his ways, the cheetahs had always been a "duty first" kind of people, I remember Hunter was the same way back in the day. But whether Zenith knew it or not, he needed this, hopefully by the end of the day, he'd see it that way too.

 **CLANG! CLANG! VZZZT!**

What on earth…? It sounded like tools being used on something, confused, I walked down the halls, it sounded like it was coming from the Zord Hanger, I entered the spacious room the four Zords sat motionless and quiet on both ends of the room, however I soon found the source of the noise.

It was Sol, he was… building something? "Sol, son what are doing?" I asked, Sol had thankfully become far more agreeable since helping the rangers defeat Grave, he kind of reminded me of myself at his age, bright eyed, adventurous, always wanting to help, but he still had his mother's temper.

Sol craned his head in my direction, "Oh! Hello father, I… I'm just working on something," he explained, I saw a hunk of metal in front of him, blueprints sat next to him I looked closer to see they were the same blueprints that I used to craft the original four Zords.

Was… was he building a Zord? "Son… what are you building?" I asked, I had flashbacks to when I began work on the Zords, the technology was so foreign to me, it took me months to complete all four, even **with** that man's instructions it was still difficult for me to wrap my head around the Zord technology.

Sol smiled, "Well… you said that Zenith needed a Zord, so… I decided to help out, you've said it yourself, you're not as young as you once were, so I figured I'd give it a try," he said, it was kind of funny how much he took after me despite now having me in his life until now, I could have seen my younger self saying the same thing,

I laughed, "Son, I appreciate the thought, but it took me a long time to figure out this technology, it isn't of our world after all, are you sure you can handle it?" I asked. Zenith **did** need a Zord, but I didn't know if Sol could handle the scope of this technology, I was the Purple Dragon and even **I** struggled with it.

However Sol simply smiled, "I think I can handle it dad," he tried to reassure me before using his flame breath to weld two metal pieces together, you know, I never really gave it much thought, but what **was** Sol's element? Well it seemed to be fire, but he certainly didn't **look** like a fire dragon, he actually looked a lot like his mother, which I guess lead me to think he would inherit one of Cynder's elements. This reminded me, I didn't really know much about Sol in general, he was my own son and I barely knew him.

"Perhaps we can work on it together?" I asked, "I haven't gotten time to spend with you Sol, and I'd like to change that," I added, Sol then did something I hadn't seen from him before.

He seemed… delighted, smiling a big goofy grin, Sol had felt abandoned by me when he first got here, so I guess I shouldn't be too surprised he would jump at the chance to spend quality time with his dad. "I'd like that..." he said.

Before all this, I never thought I'd have a son, Cynder and I had talked about starting a family many times back in the day, but I was always so reluctant given my duties as the purple dragon. But now that I had him, I felt… happy, completed, like my life finally meant something outside of just my duties as a hero, sure our relationship had some hills to climb, I didn't know if Sol had completely forgiven me for abandoning him and Cynder, but I hoped… eventually… I could make it up to him, give him the father he always wanted.

Sol looked to me, "Dad… do you think… Mom is still out there somewhere?" he asked me, I felt my heart sink a little, I had forgotten for a moment that Cynder had seemingly vanished sometime before I had awoken, I had never given it much thought until recently just how much I missed her, her gentle smile, her bright emerald eyes, her kind heart, I guess I had been so focused on protecting the realms I hadn't thought of my own needs.

I sighed, "I hope so Sol, I would love nothing more than to see your mother again, however… if she **is** out there, we **will** find her," I said, I meant it too, I knew Cynder too well to think she would stay in hiding if she knew Malefor had returned, no one hated Malefor as much as she did, all the things she had done to her, made her do, she never let go of that hatred, even years after Malefor's fall, despite her kind heart she always had such hatred for Malefor. No… I know she wouldn't ignore Malefor's return, she would turn up eventually.

But why would she even vanish in the first place? Sol had said it was because she couldn't deal with my own disappearance, but it didn't add up, I told Cynder about my plans, she knew I was going to create the Power Rangers! Why would she abandon Sol to search for me? She had to know where I was! Right?

I couldn't remember much of the day I froze myself, just that I had done it, did I tell Cynder before leaving? I liked to think I would have, she was the love of my life, how could I **not** tell her? Perhaps when we found her should could explain? That is… **if** we found her, as much as I didn't want to think it, it was **very** possible that Cynder might be dead. The very thought of her suffering such a fate brought such a great sorrow to my heart, but it was a possibility I had to prepare myself for none the less, I had to be strong, even if the worst comes to pass… I must stay strong.

* * *

 _ **Meanwhile…**_

 _ **Next Round Arcade, New Harmony Mall…**_

* * *

"Alright guys, prepare to be amazed by Kevin Naton, hoop master!" Said Kevin, the other rangers had dragged me to a place they had referred to as an "arcade", some kind of game center it seemed. Kevin swiped a card through a slot and several orange rubber balls game raining into the tray in front of him, he began to shoot the balls into this hoop thing, the machine making strange noises every time he got one through.

I felt so out of place in a place like this, and it wasn't just because I was a cheetah in a room full of humans, in the village, games were for cubs, adults had more important things to worry themselves with. "Hell yeah! What did I tell you? Hoop master!" Kevin cheered.

I rolled my eyes, "Please Kevin, such a simple task, a brain dead frogweed could do it," I commented, this was a gigantic waste of time, I didn't understand what the others sought to gain from forcing such nonsense upon me.

Kevin smirked, "Oh really? Well why don't you put your money where your mouth is Chester Cheetah," He said, clearly challenging me to beat his score of 98 on this silly game, normally I'd flat out deny partaking in such a frivolous game. But I would not allow _Kevin_ of all people to sully my honor either.

I just glared at Kevin, "Very well, I accept your challenge," I said proudly, Kevin grew a toothy grin as he swiped the card again, the balls rolled down the machine and I began, it was a simple game, get the balls through the hoop before time ran out. It was a simple challenge in aim and trajectory, I got each one in one after the other. I had been trained in aim since I was a cub, in the village, if you weren't a perfect shot, you couldn't hunt, and thus you went hungry, it wasn't the exact same principle here, but it was similar enough for me to adjust. Strangely, as time went on, I began to actually **enjoy** it a little, it was a strange feeling… something I hadn't felt since I was a cub.

The buzzer sounded, a score of one hundred, I heard Dean laugh from behind me, "Damn dude, Zen just straight up **wrecked** you!" He giggled. I felt quite proud in spite of myself, perhaps this day of "fun" would not be so bad after all? It certainly felt good to get one over Kevin, that much was certain.

Kevin simply huffed and left with Dylan and Dean to go play another game. Jessica approached me, "See, this isn't so bad is it?" she said.

I blinked, "I merely accepted a challenge, nothing more," I said hastily, not wanting to give her the satisfaction of being right.

However, Jessica simply shook her head, "Come on I saw you having fun back there you big grump!" She said, lightly punching my shoulder. "You may not want to admit it Zen, but you're more like us than you want to admit, you just need to come out of your shell a little more," She said before walking off.

I grumbled, I was **not** like them! I was a proud warrior, not a pampered human! But she was right about one thing, I enjoyed that game a _lot_ more than I thought. Perhaps it wasn't **so** bad being compared to a human? No one ever said noble warriors can't have fun every now and then.

* * *

 _ **Meanwhile…**_

 _ **Malefor's Castle…**_

* * *

I never did enjoy spying on the Power Rangers, outside of their ranger duties they were a rather boring lot, they were currently wasting time playing what appeared to be carnival games. Such frivolity from what were supposed to be earth's guardians. "Scorn! What is the status on the Power Rangers?" I heard Malefor boom from the doorway.

I sighed, "Nothing, they're currently playing like a bunch of puppies," I commented with vitriol in my voice. I hated the Power Rangers, seeing those infernal children having fun was almost too sickening to stomach. I'd rather see them dying or at least in pain. It would serve those fools right for constantly making me look like a fool!

Malefor growled, "Such undeserved confidence they have, taking time to play around instead of fearing me like they should! Such arrogance should not go unpunished Scorn, go have Rikor make a new monster and send it after them, show them some real… "fun"," Malefor ordered me.

I grinned, nothing would make me happier than to rain on their little parade, I bowed before making my way to Rikor's workshop, since the fall of the ape king, he'd been working overtime making monster sculptures just in case we needed them for another attack on the Power Rangers. "Rikor, I hope you have something good for me, watching those infernal children enjoy themselves at that marketplace is beginning to turn my stomach," I said.

Rikor began to think it over, before finally coming to some kind of decision, "I think I might have **just** the thing!" He said before producing some kind of bull like creature, "I call him "BatterBully", clever right?" He said, no… no it really wasn't. "His horns are so strong, **nothing** can withstand them! Those Power Rangers will be helpless to stop him from leveling that marketplace!" He said.

Rikor's monster might have a really stupid name, but it was the perfect creature to unleash in such a place, the Power Rangers were too noble to ignore… ugh… "BatterBully"… when he starts smashing those merchants wares, and when they came to save the day, the hulking steer would flatten them! I took the little clay bull, and began to work my magic.

The bull grew to an alarming height, easily towering over me, the bull was bipedal, covered in crude looking armor, a gigantic metal ring piercing it's nostrils, it's horns were thick and long, pointed at the end, it's musculature was almost absurdly ripped, it definitely looked like it could tear through those Power Rangers like wet paper. The bull grunted and snorted as it's red eyes began to look around, "Where are they? I'll smash those puny Power Rangers into DUST!" Said the bull in a strange accent I couldn't quite place.

Without a word I opened up a portal to the marketplace, "Go, smash as many things as you can, and when the Power Rangers come to try to stop you, destroy them," I ordered the beast. The steer grinned before stomping it's way to the portal and going through it, it was only when the portal vanished did I notice it's footsteps had left giant craters in the stone floors.

Rikor observed the holes, "I think I may have made him a bit… **too** big," He said awkwardly. I swear Rikor, you're lucky we need you…

* * *

 _ **Meanwhile…**_

 _ **Brendle's, New Harmony Mall…**_

* * *

Now this I **knew** was frivolous… I did not even know shopping for garments was a **thing** , but apparently it was in the Human Realms. "Tell me again why we are here?" I asked Jessica, for some reason, she insisted on dragging me here.

Jessica looked up from her browsing to answer, "You said it yourself, the clothes you have on are too tight, I was hoping to find something a little more… comfortable for you," She explained.

While I appreciated the sentiment, I still felt like we were wasting time, these garments were uncomfortable but I could adjust with time. "Jessica… I appreciate your concern, but I'm strong enough to adjust to uncomfortable garments," I said.

Jessica shook her head, "I know, but… you're a friend… and friends help friends out, even with the seemingly minor things," she explained. These humans… they never cease to confuse me, they seemed so concerned with such minor things, it was almost alien to me. In the village, we scratched and clawed just to survive, anything that wasn't important got tossed to the side.

But here? It seemed almost the exact opposite, everything they needed was a simple walk away, they lived in excess, almost like kings, they allowed themselves to be concerned with minor things such as comfort and fun, at first I thought it made them weak, but I realize now that it is simply a product of living in a peace the Dragon Realms never really had, there was still conflict to be certain, but the world itself seemed to rarely be at risk, in fact the only threat of pure destruction came from **my** world, perhaps if we had access to what they did, we would not be so different?

"AIIIIEEEEEEE!"

Jessica and I both turned to see a rather portly looking human come running into the shop, "Everybody run! There's some kind of bull thing tearing the mall apart!" He said in a panic, it seemed that Malefor had made his next move.

Jessica and I both looked at each other, both agreeing to check it out, we rushed out of the store, only to find this bull creature currently hoisting one of those metal carriages over his head, what did Jessica call them again? "Cars"? "Where are they?! Come on out Power Rangers! I'll crush ya!" It said as it chucked the car into a storefront, sending several humans running out of the store screaming.

We had to stop this monster before it harmed someone, " ** _It's morphin' time!_** " Jessica called, we both readied our morphers to begin the sequence.

" _ **Legendary Dragon! Power of Yellow Electricity!"**_

" _ **Legendary Dragon! Power of the Purple Dragon!"**_

The bull saw us immediately, "Well well, look who decided ta show up! You think those dumb costumes impress me? I'll smash ya inta paste!" It said before slamming it's fists into the ground, causing it to shake so much it caused us to both to lose our footing and fall. "Man, that guy is **strong**!" Jessica commented.

No kidding, this creature seemed almost ridiculously powerful, fighting it would not be easy, I got up and charged the beast, before launching myself into the air and coming down with a dropping kick, the impact caused the steer to stumble but that was about it. The creature grabbed me by the head and violently tossed me through the air, sending me right through a glass display. I could feel my bones ache from the impact, and the glass shards embedded into my body, the suit was offering me some protection, but not much.

I heard a loud stomping growing ever closer, I turned to see the bull looming over me, "That all ya got? This is gonna be a short fight!" it said as it raised it's foot, looking to crush me.

However, before it could, the creature was suddenly hit with electricity, causing it to cry out as the electricity surged through it's body. "Get away from him you overgrown cow!" Jessica yelled, she just saved my life! However this also revealed the creature did indeed have a vulnerability! The beast was unaffected by physical attacks, but it wasn't so resistant to our **elemental** attacks!

Jessica was backhanded by the giant bovine, and sent tumbling right over to me, "Jessica, we need to use our elemental attacks! It's the only thing this beast seems to be vulnerable to," I said to her.

Jessica nodded, "Alright, let's do it!" She agreed. We both summoned our weapons as the bull began to charge.

" _ **ELECTRIC SLICE!"**_

" _ **AETHER SLASH!"**_

Both elemental attacks flew at the creature, catching it mid stride, the creature cried out as the elements knocked it back, sending it crashing to the ground, however, the bull was right back up, "You little runts! Ya think your little blasts can take me down?! I'll flatten ya!" It said as it began another charge.

Jessica and I couldn't get out of the way in time and were both sent flying from the impact. Our bodies collided with the ground with painfully hard thuds, the wind knocked right out of my lungs on impact. This creature was so strong, **too** strong! Our elements weren't enough to combat it! We hurt it, but not enough! We need more power!

"Yo horn head!"

Suddenly three figures came leaping off from a higher platform, one red, one blue, one green, it was the others! "You looking of Power Rangers?! Well you just found them!" said Dylan.

However, the bull didn't seem to care, "Ya think three more puny rangers is gonna make a difference?! I'll squash all a' ya like bugs!" It said before smacking all three of them away with a strong backhand.

The three rangers all flew through the air before smacking into the far wall and flopping painfully onto the ground. "Man! That guy hit's worse than a linebacker!" Dean commented as he tried to get up.

I got to my feet, "We need something strong to hit him with! Maybe we should form the Legendary Dragon Blaster?" I asked Dylan.

Dylan nodded, "Good idea! Alright guys! Bring 'em together!" He ordered.

" _ **Axe of Earth!"**_

" _ **Lance of Ice!"**_

" _ **Daggers of Electricity!"**_

" _ **Sword of Flame!"**_

" _ **Purple Dragon Sword!"**_

All of the weapons came together to form one, the weapon falling softly into the four human ranger's hands, me placing my paw on the top. _**"Legendary Dragon Blaster! FIRE!"**_ We all called in unison. The weapon came alive with a blast of pure elemental energy, the blast careened towards the giant bovine, who could only cry out as the blast hit it flush. The sheer force from the blast sending it sailing through the air, crashing it right into the far wall.

We all knew the second the beast exploded that it had been slain. Another monster of Malefor brought down by the Power Rangers! "Alright!" cheered Kevin, "Consider that beef well done!" he added, Dylan had warned me that Kevin's puns were bad, but that was unforgivable.

* * *

 _ **Later…**_

 _ **Outside of the Mall…**_

* * *

After the dust had settled and we had all de-morphed, we had decided to leave the mall. Jessica and I walking back to her house, "Look, Zenith… I'm sorry our little day of fun didn't pan out the way it was supposed to, ya know… with the bull and all," said Jessica.

I couldn't fight off a small smile, "I appreciate the effort at least," I said, "For what it's worth, I **did** have fun today," I admitted, thinking about it, I really did appreciate what the others were trying to do for me, trying to give me a taste of what it's like to be a human realmer, to have fun for once. With all of the war and death that surrounded my world, it was admittedly refreshing to just relax and have a fun day for once, even if it did end with us having to fight a monster.

Jessica smiled, "Good, I know you're not exactly looking to make friends, but with you being a ranger now… we do consider you one… a friend I mean," She said, I didn't know how to feel about that personally, I used to dislike the other rangers, feeling they were more concerned with their own world than my own, but yet… after spending the day with them free of the dread we'd normally had looming over us, I got to see them for what the were.

Noble, selfless humans, just looking to do the right thing. They were the Power Rangers, but they were also a group of friends thrust into a war they knew little about, but yet… they fought anyways, and even cared enough about an outsider like myself to offer me a place in that circle of friendship they had. In a strange way… I appreciate that… being in this strange world I knew nothing about, but having this small group trying everything to help me through it simply by trying to be a friend.

In a war this dire, that kind of thing was worth a lot more than even **I** believed at first… sometimes, to survive the harshest storm… all you needed was a friend to help you through.

* * *

 **A/N: I thought after all the madness of these past few chapters, something a little more on the chill side was needed. Don't worry, we'll get back to the big stuff at some point.**


	13. The Forgotten Masters

**Chapter 12: The Forgotten Masters**

* * *

It was a cold November morning in New Harmony, the sky was gray, the air bitter and cold, it was so weird going to school after all that had happened between then and now, going to the Dragon Realms, finding Spyro's long lost son, helping Zen adjust to life here, it seemed my life had become so much more than I ever expected it to be.

So much has changed, but yet the ghosts of what was still linger. The same lonely walk to school I'd always taken, the gentle bustle of a city just waking up, it was oddly refreshing when contrasted with the insane circumstances I had surrounded myself with since becoming the Yellow Electric Ranger. A sense of normalcy was so rare these days, a brief respite from the world threatening insanity of Malefor's war on both realms. I almost miss having my only concern being avoiding Veronica Stone and her lapdogs, something so mundane be the biggest fear on my mind seemed almost laughable in comparison to what I've encountered as a Power Ranger.

However something suddenly broke the quiet serenity of my morning walk, the sounds of a car horn honking, I turned my head to find a familiar looking beat up red pick up truck pulling over next to me, the vehicle came to a slow stop, it's window lowering. Inside was a young man with short brown hair and crystal blue eyes, a soul patch sat on his chin, he wore a dark blue motocross jersey over a pair of black jeans. I knew this person very well, he was my older brother, Ryan, "Hey sis, need a lift?" he asked in a slightly jovial tone.

Ryan was a bit older than I was at twenty one, he had been living out of town for a few years, so seeing him here was strange to say the least. "Ryan? What are you doing here?" I asked, Ryan and I had a pretty good brother sister relationship, he was the typical protective older brother, but he was a good man at heart.

Ryan laughed, "I'm moving back into town, what can I say, I kinda missed quiet old New Harmony a bit," he said, sadly that New Harmony had died when Malefor had awoken, but I couldn't exactly tell him that without outing myself as the Yellow Ranger.

I got into the truck, the fact Ryan still had this old hunk of junk was impressive, it was the first car he'd ever gotten, dad having gotten it second hand from one of his friends on the force. Ryan liked it because the bed of the truck could fit his dirt bike almost perfectly. Motocross had always been a passion of Ryan's, he had hopes of turning pro someday, but hadn't been able to crack the armature circuit yet. "So… what has my baby sister been up to lately?" He asked me as he began to drive me to school.

I sounded with a nervous chuckle, I couldn't tell him what I had been **really** up to recently, not without surrendering my powers at least. "Nothing much, just the same old same old," I lied. Well not **entirely** , outside of being a Power Ranger, my life had stayed relatively the same as it always had been, ignored or picked on by my peers, still trying to become the musician I've always wanted to be, it was almost sad how much things had stayed the same since Ryan moved out. "How about you?" I asked, hoping to change the subject eventually, I didn't feel comfortable skirting around my identity as the Yellow Ranger like this.

Ryan oddly seemed to be just as uncomfortable, "Well, nothing much really, I managed to win a race in Stone Canyon the other day, but other than that, nothing really major has been happening with me either," he explained. Something about Ryan's body language seemed to suggest he was hiding something, he seemed to fidget uncomfortably in his seat, like he was holding something in that desperately wanted to come out. "So… I hear that New Harmony has had… monster troubles lately," He said.

Oh god, why did he have to bring it there? "Y… yeah… it's crazy," I said uncomfortably, I was beginning to sweat a little, knowing one wrong slip of the tongue was all it would take to leave the team with no Yellow Ranger. "The school got trashed twice," I added.

Ryan nodded, "I can imagine it must have been intense," he said. He didn't know the half of it, being in the thick of it as Yellow Ranger had made it seem so trivial though, being able to fight it off with my friends had dulled the shock of the city I grew up in being constantly in danger to almost nothing. It wasn't something I'd even considered until now.

We soon arrived at the school, "Well, here we are, I might drop by the house later, it'll be nice to catch up with you and dad," he said before letting me out, part of me just wanted to bolt out of the truck, leave this awkward situation in my dust. But if I did that, Ryan would definitely suspect something… so I left, saying goodbye to my older brother, trying to sound as normal as I could before heading into the building.

* * *

 _ **Later…**_

 _ **New Harmony High School, Cafeteria…**_

* * *

During the time between arriving to school and first period, there was a certain window where you could get breakfast from the cafeteria, most people used this time to chat with friends in the cafeteria, while others used it to catch up on a missed breakfast and brave the cafeteria food. I was currently in the former category, looking to discuss things with the other rangers.

It took almost no time at all for me to find the three boys, "Hey Jess, you're here a lot earlier than usual, you book it to school today or something?" Kevin asked, I was usually pretty late arriving due to walking instead of driving or taking the bus like the other three.

I sat at the lunch table, "Yeah, my brother picked me up," I said, Kevin and Dylan seemed confused, it was only now I realized I had never mentioned Ryan to Kevin or Dylan, Dean knew I had an older brother because we'd known each other so long so his lack of surprise was expected. "I have an older brother, he moved out a few years ago, but he apparently decided to move back to New Harmony," I explained.

"Man, it's felt like forever since I last saw Ryan," commented Dean, "How is he? Doing good I hope," he added.

I sighed, "Yeah, but for some reason, when I asked him he seemed a bit… off, like he was hiding something," I explained.

Kevin grew a toothy grin, "Maybe he's a secret sixth Power Ranger?" He said mockingly, wiggling his fingers and making spooky ghost noises. God Kevin is such a child, there was no way Spyro would have recruited Ryan without telling me first… right? I know I shouldn't be taking something that Kevin clearly meant as a joke seriously, but it kinda fit, I was awkward during that ride for the same exact reasons after all, but it was absurd, there's no way Spyro would make new rangers without telling any of us.

Dylan bopped Kevin in the back of the head, "Knock it off dude, he was probably just worried of upsetting Jess, I mean… he doesn't know she's a Power Ranger, and having monsters attack the school from a civilian's perspective is probably pretty traumatic," He explained, that had to be it, Ryan knew I had never exactly been the bravest of souls, perhaps he was just afraid he might cause me to have some post traumatic stress or something?

Kevin laughed, "Relax oh mighty leader, I'm just messing around," Kevin waved off, "Besides, I think five is a pretty good number all things considered," he added. "Speaking of, how's kitty boy doing?" He asked me.

I almost didn't want to bring up Zen, the poor thing has had to hide himself in my basement for a few days now, he insisted he didn't mind, but I could see it in his eyes he hated it. "He's… adjusting," I said, "He's been staying in my basement, dad's rarely home so hiding him hasn't been much of an issue yet," I added. I really hated locking the poor cheetah in my dank, dark basement, but it was the only place I could keep him that would be even semi comfortable for him during these colder months.

Kevin snickered, "I'm surprised you've been able to keep him in there, dude's not exactly the most cooperative kitty cat," he commented.

Strangely Zenith has never objected to hiding all that much, he's certainly **questioned** it, but he's never given me a hard time over it or anything. Although I did get the impression that he couldn't wait for all this to be over so he could return to his village.

However, before we could discuss things further, our morphers suddenly came alive, a hologram projection of Spyro appeared from them, "Rangers, Malefor has sent another monster to Downtown New Harmony," He explained.

Another monster? This early in the day? I guess Malefor was hoping we'd be too tired to fight his monsters this time? Whatever, time to get to work. We all rose from our seats and left the cafeteria, once we were in a spot alone, we began our morphing sequence.

" _ **Legendary Dragon! Power of Green Earth!"**_

" _ **Legendary Dragon! Power of Yellow Electricity!"**_

" _ **Legendary Dragon! Power of Blue Ice!"**_

" _ **Legendary Dragon! Power of Red Fire!"**_

The second we transformed we were teleported to the scene of the attack, there we found the monster in question, it was some kind of sheep creature from the looks of things in dark armor with a triangle on the belly, it looked to be wearing a hat made of tin foil and a pair of red goggles. "Alright monster!" Dylan called to the beast, "You're done terrorizing these people! Leave now or else!" He threatened.

The creature turned to us with a manic look upon it's face, "Power Rangers?! Just more puppets of the human government man! You're all just cogs in the machine!" It began to ramble, none of us quite knew how to respond, the sheep produced some kind of blaster rifle, firing it right at us, we all just barely managed to dodge the shot, "You won't steal my thoughts you government drones! I'm gonna wake up this whole city! Then they'll see the truth you're trying to hide!" It continued to rant, sounding like a crazed conspiracy theorist.

Just what kind of insane monster had Malefor dreamed up this time? I began to put the pieces together, it was a sheep, it had a tinfoil hat on it's head, it was ranting about the government, this was a conspiracy theorist monster wasn't it? Of all the things to base your monster on… you go with crazed nut bars that think the government is out to get them? Points for creativity I guess but still… why?

Dylan rose to his feet, "Okay guys, weapons out! it's time to sheer this sheep!" he said, we all summoned our weapons and charged the crazed sheep.

The sheep, true to it's inspiration, instantly grew skittish and began blasting it's rifle wildly, taking out a lamp post, a bench, and somehow managing to score a shot on Kevin, who began to tumble backwards until slamming into a nearby fountain. I quickly changed course, rushing over to Kevin. "Kevin are you okay?" I asked.

Kevin groaned as he got up, "Ow… man that thing sure packs a punch," he groaned.

"NO!" screamed the sheep, "You all just want to make me another cog in the machine! You can't hiiiide what's insiiiide!" It yelled before I suddenly felt something very hot strike my back, sparks flew as I twirled helplessly through the air before landing in the fountain, my suit was now drenched, letting me know these ranger suits were **not** waterproof.

I turned my head to see Dylan and Dean both trying to fight the loony lamb, taking swings with their weapons as the sheep tried to smack them away with it's gun, "You can't beat me you drones! I can see through you **and** their lies! The earth is flat! Lizard people control the government! CHEMTRAILS! WAKE UP SHEEPLE!" The sheep screamed as he blasted Dylan and Dean away. This was bordering on absurdist parody at this point, was Malefor trying to **mock** people now? Or was this just the crazed theorists final form? I didn't know for sure, and quite frankly, I didn't really care, this thing was a threat to innocent people and needed to be taken down!

We just kept trying to fight this thing, even Kevin and I managed to recover from the shots and began to take swings at the manic sheep, all while it continued to ramble about the Illuminati, chemtrails, and mind control. This would be kinda funny if it weren't so irritating. I just wanted to shut this stupid sheep up already! However, try as we might, the sheep just kept going, blasting us away again.

We all flew backwards from the blast, landing painfully on the concrete ground. As we all groaned trying to get up, I managed to just now realize that Zenith wasn't here, surely Spyro contacted him right? I doubt even Zenith could fight this stupid sheep off, but having an extra ranger was at least _something_. "You see?! You Power Rangers can't fight the truth! After I destroy you, I'm going to expose all of your human government's secrets!" The sheep cackled, I really want to know who designs these stupid monsters so I can strangle them right now… ugh…

" _ **TIDAL WAVE!"**_

Suddenly the sheep was swept away by a giant wave of all things, none of us knew what or how this happened, but at least it got the stupid sheep to shut up for five seconds. Suddenly three figures leaped over our heads, one black, one white, one dark blue, the three figures landed revealing what they were to us.

They were Power Rangers.

Their suits were a lot like our own, only they had small golden shoulder pads and the parts that were gold on our suits were silver on theirs, where the hell did these new Power Rangers even come from?

The black one looked male, he carried a scythe in his hands, his helmet was of a gaunt looking dragon's head, red eyes stuck out brightly from the dark black helmet, which looked like the dragon depicted was wearing some kind of skull mask which also stuck out from the otherwise black helmet, the head spikes and horn details were barely noticeable on the helmet as they shared it's dark color. The symbol on his chest resembled a warped version of Zen's crest, as if someone had taken it off Zen's chest and crushed it in their hands.

The white one was clearly female, she held two bladed tonfa in her hands, the poles of which contained little air holes as if it were a flute. The helmet depicted a rather majestic looking dragon, with golden horns that curved inwards into a spiral. Pink head spikes ran down the helmet with two golden eyes sitting underneath. The ranger's crest was a straight up spiral pattern, like a twister or gust of wind.

The dark blue one was a male, he had a pair of nunchaku tucked under his arm which had a clear aquatic motif. The helmet continued the aquatic motif as the headspikes were more like fins in a bright sea green color which matched the eyes and the slick horns, his symbol was a wave shape.

These new rangers stood before the rambling sheep, "What's this?! More of the Illuminati's henchmen?! You can't stop the truth! NONE OF YOU CAN!" Screamed the sheep.

The dark blue ranger then took a few steps forward, "We're your worst nightmare creep..." He said in a voice I kind of recognized but couldn't place it, the dark blue ranger then began to pose, "Power of the raging tides! Dragon Master! NAVY RANGER!" He called, striking a pose and naming himself as the Navy Ranger.

The white ranger then began to step forward, "And we're here take ya down you overgrown sheep!" she said in a clear Irish accent, "Power of the howling winds! Dragon Master! WHITE RANGER!" She said, striking her own pose.

Then the black one stepped forward, "So you'd better give up now sheep boy, before things get ugly," He said with a cool confidence, "Power of the encompassing darkness! Dragon Master! BLACK RANGER!" He called, twirling his scythe around before posing with it.

The three new rangers held the pose for a while, before the Navy Ranger, who seemed to be the leader of the three, stood up straight, "We are the forgotten Dragon Master Power Rangers! Last chance to surrender, or we'll show you what **real** power is!" He said, it was bothering me so badly how much I recognized the voice of the Navy Ranger, but I couldn't seem to figure out where I've heard it before.

The sheep panicked, blasting wildly at the new trio, he missed, causing an explosion to go off just behind them of which they had zero reaction to. "Wrong move sheep boy, bring 'em together guys!" said Navy Ranger.

The three rangers then began to combine their weapons, the Black Ranger twisted the handle of his scythe, making it take on a blaster like shape, " _ **Scythe of Darkness!**_ " He called before tossing it into the air.

The White Ranger twirled her tonfa, said tonfa making a whistling sound as she did so before she tossed them into the air, " _ **Tonfa of Wind!**_ " she called as the weapons clicked on both sides of the scythe.

Finally, the Navy Ranger began to twirl his nunchaku around, " _ **Nunchaku of Water!**_ " he called before the weapon fell into his hands and he slammed the nunchaku onto the top, forming a blaster.

The three rangers all gathered around the weapon, the white and black rangers both grabbing opposite ends " _ **Dragon Master Mega Blaster! FIRE!**_ " they all called before the blaster blew the sheep away, the sheep screamed one last time about chemtrails before exploding like a fireworks display.

Me and my friends all got up, not sure what to make of the new team, the three new rangers disassembling their blaster back into the individual weapons. Kevin naturally was the first to try to speak to the new rangers, "The big purple guy didn't mention a new batch of rangers, but you guys really-" He began before he suddenly found himself on the business end of Black Ranger's scythe, confused Kevin held his hands up and tried to back away.

"Oh we know **exactly** who you're working for you fake rangers!" said Navy Ranger. "As for the "big purple guy", you can tell him he didn't get control of **all** the Power Rangers!" He said, oh no… these rangers weren't of Spyro's creation were they? "Dragon Master Rangers! Let's take these wannabe's out!" Navy Ranger suddenly said.

Before we could even react the Dragon Master Rangers began their assault. Dylan and Kevin tried to fight off Navy Ranger, Dean defended himself against the Black Ranger, and I was left with the White Ranger to deal with.

She was good, her punches and kicks were difficult for me to keep up with, "What's the matter lass? Never fought an Irishwoman before?" She asked before scoring a hard kick to my abdomen, forcing me to stumble backwards. "That's a shame, cause I'm about to blow you away! **WIND BURST**!" She called as she swung her tonfa in an "x" pattern, sending a huge gust of wind right at me and I suddenly found myself literally blown away, sailing across the air uncontrollably. I did everything I could to try to stop my momentum but wound up cracking my back against a lamppost with a loud, painful clang.

The White Ranger gently floated down in front of me, "How'd ya like that ride lass? Didn't seem to be much fun from your end I must admit, but _I'm_ having a blast," she said in a rather chipper tone. She was clearly having a good time, I couldn't say the same for myself, my back hurt like hell, I could barely move, and even if I could, how could I counter her wind attacks? I didn't know, but I wasn't about to die here, so I quickly did a rising spin kick, catching White Ranger completely off guard and knocking her to the ground.

I quickly drew my daggers, "Don't count me out yet wind bag!" I said before I began to charge my electricity into my daggers, " _ **ELECTRIC SLASH!**_ " I called as I swiped my daggers in an "x" pattern, zapping the hapless ranger.

My back was in so much pain right now, I'd hate to think how much worse it would have been unmorphed but it was clear I couldn't play around with these jerks. The White Ranger quickly got back to her feet, throwing several punches and kicks at me, I blocked each one, however when I tried to retaliate with a high kick to her head, she caught my leg and flipped me over, "Purple boy didn't train ya very well did he? You fight like a child!" She taunted me before clocking me in the head with her tonfa, making a loud clack sound as it bounced off my plastic helmet, the force alone sent ripples of pain throughout my skull, any harder and I might have gotten a concussion!

I managed to get a look around, the others weren't doing so well either, Navy Ranger was blasting Dylan and Kevin away with a strong water jet, and Dean was getting slashed all over by Black Ranger's scythe! This was becoming hopeless, these new rangers were good! **Really** good! How were we going to beat them?

" _ **AETHER SLASH!"**_

Suddenly bolts of Aether came raining down on the three new rangers, Zenith landing in his Purple Ranger form, "The purple dragon said there was a monster attack! Why are you guys being attacked by other rangers?" He asked me as he helped me to my feet.

Man was I glad to see Zen right now! "I don't know, we were fighting the monster, but then **these** jokers showed up, destroyed the monster, then just attacked us out of nowhere!" I explained. Speaking of, the Master Rangers slowly began to rise to their feet, Navy Ranger staring daggers at Zenith from under the visor of his helmet, "Go ahead and pretend you won today! Malefor will never win! You can tell him **that** next time you see him!" Said Navy Ranger before the three suddenly teleported away.

All five of us just stared at the spot the Master Rangers once stood, that last comment… it seemed to suggest that they for whatever reason thought we were Malefor's rangers, or at least, that's what I got from it. "Who were those guys?" Kevin asked.

Dylan shook his head, "I have no idea, but we should inform Spyro about this, maybe he'll have some insight into who these rangers are," he suggested, it was a sound idea, I wanted to know what was going on, and more importantly, who those rangers were underneath those helmets. I felt like I knew the Navy Ranger from somewhere… but where?

* * *

 _ **Later…**_

 _ **Dragon Temple…**_

* * *

We had all warped to the Dragon Temple, there we found Spyro staring at the Pool of Visions with a confused look on his face, he then suddenly turned to us, "I assume you're here to ask where those new rangers came from?" He asked, apparently he had been watching the whole thing. We all nodded, "Sadly, I don't have an answer for you guys, I've never seen those rangers before, I had always intended there to be only four, no offense Zenith," Spyro said.

Dylan stepped forward, "Water, darkness, wind, are those even dragon elements? I thought it was just fire, ice, earth, and electricity?" he asked, it was a question I had as well, Spyro had said purple dragons could use all **four** elements, but if that were the case, how could there be three more?

Spyro sighed, "That… I **can** answer," he said, "It was something Terrador once told me about, the three forgotten masters," He continued, "You see, fire, ice, earth, and electricity are what we dragons know as the four **basic** elements, but there are many others, some only accessible to purple dragons, others within rare breeds of dragons, the three elements you saw in those new rangers were of the latter category," he explained. "These elements just like any other, had their own guardians, these were the lost masters, Oberon, Frosch, and Excedra, the wind, water, and darkness guardians respectively," he continued.

Three more guardians? How did we not know about this? "These three disappeared during the first stages of the war against Malefor, their elements lost to time, whoever made these rangers somehow accessed their dragon spirits, and used them to create a new team of Power Rangers, who that is or for what purpose they felt the need to create them for I have no clue, but it's clear we need to find out soon, we can't have these new rangers keep attacking you three like this," He explained. "I want you three to stay in the temple until you recover, I don't want to risk these "Master Rangers" coming after you again," Spyro ordered us before turning to leave, "Now if you'll excuse me, I have something that requires my attention," He said before leaving.

What that could be I had no clue, I was more concerned with what I had just learned, how could there be more guardians than the ones me and my friends had? " _In my defense Jessica, I had no clue the forgotten masters would play any sort of role in this battle,_ " Volteer explained. Seemingly under the impression I was upset with him or something, " _Oh I know you aren't Jessica, but I still felt an explanation was prudent,_ " He said.

I began to walk into an empty hall, sitting myself down, my back was killing me, that collision with the lamppost had taken a lot more of a toll on me than I thought, hopefully I'd be okay in time to be there when Ryan came to a visit, " _Jessica… if I may…_ " Volteer said, _"I know you won't want to hear this, but we cannot ignore the timing of your brother's arrival and the appearance of these "Master Rangers", I theorize that they may be in fact… connected,"_ He said, was he implying Ryan was one of the master rangers?! No… that's impossible! Ryan wouldn't do that to me! " _I know it's hard to digest Jessica, but it is a possibility we cannot ignore_ ," He said, I knew he was probably right, but the very thought of fighting my own brother wasn't sitting well with me at all. I know Ryan wouldn't hurt me, he'd know it was me under that helmet! He **knew** my voice!

But Volteer had a point, Ryan returning to New Harmony around the same time that these Master Rangers showed up was too convenient to ignore, " _Perhaps this is a good thing Jessica? If one of these rangers is your brother, perhaps you would be able to reason with him? I don't think these master rangers are evil, just mislead, you heard what the Navy Ranger said before departing, perhaps he believes that you are of Malefor's creation?_ " He theorized. He was right, Ryan was a reasonable guy, if he was under one of those helmets, I could reason with him.

But that was assuming Ryan even **was** one of the rangers… which I was kind of hoping he wasn't… because if I **couldn't** reason with them… I would have to fight him…

* * *

 _ **Meanwhile…**_

 _ **Unknown Location…**_

* * *

Well that didn't go well, we had those fake rangers on the ropes! That was, until their purple friend showed up! I thought master said there were only four? Why would she not tell us of a fifth? The three of us found the cave we usually operated out of, just on the outskirts of New Harmony, "Hey..." Said the Black Ranger, "You doing okay Navy? You look a bit out of sorts," he asked me.

I shook my head, "I dunno… something about this doesn't seem to add up," I said, it wasn't just the Purple Ranger, it was also something about the yellow one, her voice, it sounded so familiar, but I couldn't place it. "And you don't need to call me Navy when we're in private Travis," I said before removing my helmet, "You can call me Ryan here," I added.

The other two removed their helmets, the black ranger was a young half Asian boy named Travis McCoy, he was an aspiring rock star, he was in a garage band named Obsidian, kind of serendipitous given his ranger color. He was half Korean on his mother's side, hence his very Irish last name, but he certainly resembled his Korean mother more than his father, his hair was jet black and semi long, he had his father's blue eyes though.

The White Ranger was a fiery red head named Kate Peterson, she was an exchange student from Ireland, a bit of a daredevil too, she was right at home being the Wind Ranger, flying around, she was full of life and when not in fight, one of the nicest girl's you'd ever meet. "Be easy on him Ryan, he is the newest one out of the three of us," she explained.

I chuckled, "Noted, but we should report our encounter to the master regardless, she'll want to know we encountered other Power Rangers," I said, with that, the three of us entered the cave, up until we came up to what appeared to be a wall of rock, but I knew better, pulling on one of the rocks activated a secret door, revealing an ancient temple.

"Back so soon?" Our master called from another room, "I expected Malefor's monster to put up at least somewhat of a fight," She added.

I sighed, "It wasn't the only thing we encountered master," I said, "We… we encountered other rangers… ones using the base elements you said Spyro used to create the first batch of morphers, we tried to fight them, but a purple one managed to get the better of us and forced us to retreat," I explained.

I heard a soft growl come from the other room, "That bastard… he actually did it… he perverted Spyro's work to serve his own twisted needs," she snarled, "No matter, we'll deal with those fake Power Rangers eventually," She said, "Oh and one more thing," She said before entering the room.

The dragon that we had called master for months now stepped into the room, she was black as the very shadows she emerged from, she was an older dragon, with eyes sagging slightly from age, her figure was slender and sleek, her horns white and slick, her eyes a piercing emerald color. She wore a silver choker around her neck, with matching bracelets around all for of her legs. Her underbelly was a deep, rose color, which matched her wings. Her tail blade was sharp, almost metallic looking.

The dragon stared me right in the eyes, "You know I hate being called "Master", it makes it sound like I'm your slave driver," She said, "Please, just call me Cynder," She added with a slight smirk…

* * *

 **A/N: How's that for a chapter ending? Looks like we found out what Cynder's been up to since Spyro disappeared, but what exactly does this mean for our heroes? Will Jess be able to reason with her brother? And who exactly are the Forgotten Masters? Stay Tuned.**

 **I'd like to take this time to thank User "Gargantua Dragon" for offering his dragon OC's for my stupid crossover story, yes kids, these mysterious "Lost Masters" are not of my creation (try not to hide your shock too much), normally I try to avoid using other people's characters since I'm always terrified I'll get them wrong, but I have to admit, while I had always planned for Cynder to have her own Power Rangers, I had no plans as to what said rangers would be, and when Gargantua here offered me his own cast of guardians, I decided "hey, what's the worst that can happen right?"**

 **So thanks Gargantua Dragon, I hope to god I don't mess up your characters _too_ badly, he did give me some backstory for them, but I decided to save that aspect for a letter time, good mystery keeps people reading ya know.**

 **Gargantua did also give me two humans to use for the Black and White Rangers, but I ultimately decided against it for similar reasons stated earlier, (you know, the whole "don't wanna screw up your ocs" thing?) besides, I need at least some aspects of this team to be mine, otherwise I might look like a hack or something (what do you mean I'm already a hack?) But I appreciate the effort regardless.**

 **Needless to say, I appreciate it when my readers offer their suggestions, it makes my stories feel like a community effort. So if anyone here has their own suggestions, feel free to PM me or post them in the comments (Although, I'd rather you did it through PMs so I can actually respond, god I hate Fanfiction's comment system, it's like the communication equivalent of Russian Roulette, you never know if you'll be able to respond or not!)**

 **But I doubt I'll be adding any more rangers, eight is already a pretty high number and I get kinda overwhelmed when I have too many cooks in the kitchen if you catch my drift.**

 **And yes, I did kinda steal the idea of "Conspirisheep" from the Boom Comics Power Rangers comics (which if you're a Power Rangers fanatic like I am, you should definitely read, they are awesome), I thought the idea was hilarious and wanted to try my hand at it, I think it's fine here since he clearly isn't the focus and I already set a precedent for ripping off monster designs (Isn't that right Loudmouth?) I promise I'll be more original with monsters in the future I just wanted to have some fun with the concept is all.**


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